Kaizoku!
by Elle-Procrastinator
Summary: The ever elusive One Piece is once again in hiding after the execution of the second Pirate King. Gathering up her own crew of misfits, Jackie and her nakama set out to have the ultimate adventure and accomplish their wildest dreams!
1. Katarina Arc Part One: Takayoshi Euro

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything you recognize.

* * *

><p><em>Wealth. Fame. Power.<em>

_The man who owned everything in the world,_

_the second Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy._

_The last words said at his execution..._

_Were the same as the Pirate King before him, Gol D. Roger!_

_They sent people from all over the world to the seas._

_"My treasure?_

_If you want it, I'll give it to you!_

_Search for it!_

_I left all of it in that place!"_

_Men, searching for romance, pushed forth to the Grand Line!_

_The world is still..._

_In the Great Age of Pirates!_

* * *

><p><strong>East Blue Saga<strong>

**Chapter One: Takayoshi Euro**

The ocean below her rippled with each dip her finger made, the rings spreading out serenely until it eventually stilled again.

Jackie was bored. Extremely, undeniably bored.

Her jet-black hair was tied up into a high ponytail, her frame curled up on the edge of the boat that was barely big enough for two. She was wearing simple white shorts and a purple tank which was the exact same colour as her eyes, a startling violet shade. Lean brown boots made of soft, pliable leather that stopped at her ankles adorned her feet and, although none could see it, concealed in the left boot was a spare throwing knife or two.

A plain white cap was stuck firmly on her head with her ponytail sticking out the back hole. A knife sheath was looped through her shorts' belt holes and attached to her opposite hip were a pair of Wind and Fire Wheels, dangerously sharp.

They were shaped like a large ring, with another smaller semi-circle on the inside of each loop, the perfect size for Jackie's fists to curl over part of the ring and under the smaller semi-circle. The area where her fists were supposed to go was carefully padded, and on the outside of the ring protruded steel points that resembled spitting fire.

Jackie blew a stray stand of hair out of her eyes. Then, she groaned. It had been three days since going out to sea for the first time, leaving behind the only home she'd ever known, and she _still _hadn't encountered an island! Sure, she was okay at navigation, but she was seriously starting to have her doubts about whether or not she was on track. Was she lost? She should have been at Katarina Island _yesterday!_

The raven-haired, seventeen year old girl stuck her fingers in the current and felt the cooling effects of the cold water. She sighed again.

She was really, _really _bored.

* * *

><p>"Land! Land, land, oh sweet, heavenly land!"<p>

Jackie grinned as wide as physically possible, which made her look like one of those court jesters, nearly jumping up and down in joy. This was it, this was Katarina Island! Quickly tying her sad excuse of a boat to the harbour, she leaped onto the sandy area and smiled fondly at a passing bee.

"Hello, bee." She caught sight of a pretty flower, "Hello, flower." Jackie held her pouch of beli's in one hand and lovingly stroked a nearby tree trunk. "Hello, tree. Hel-" She stopped short as she turned around. "Hello, person."

Said person blinked blankly at her. Jackie blinked right back.

The man was about a half a head taller than her. He was muscular but lean, standing casually as ever, wearing plain black pants and a dark blue wife beater. Blue eyes peered from underneath short, similar blue hair that stuck up in odd angles, resembling a buzz cut, only not as short and more tousled.

Over his shoulder was a huge, thick sword, nearly as tall as the user himself, wrapped in bandages, the hilt starting off the size of the man's curled fist, then expanding suddenly to the wide part of the sword, then narrowing slightly as it reached the tip, which was about as wide as half the hilt. The edges didn't seem sharp at all, which puzzled Jackie, and the weapon reminded her of those orange flavoured, triangular shaped ice treats with rounded edges held up by a popsicle stick that she'd seen sold on hot, sunny days. Then the man shifted slightly under Jackie's scrutinizing gaze, bringing her from her reverie.

"You look cool. Who are you?" She blurted out without a second thought.

Blue eyes narrowed, clearing in an instant. "Shouldn't you be the one introducing yourself to me? After all, you are standing on my territory." he drawled lazily.

"Territory?" Jackie echoed. "Are you the mayor or something?"

"No," he replied, "but this is my home island. And you're an outsider."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, no, I've lived here my whole life." This made the man do a double-take. The expression on his normally stoic face made Jackie crack up with laughter. "No I..." – giggle – "I was just..." – snort – "kidding." – more laughter – "You should have seen your..." – insert more giggling – "Face!" Jackie doubled over laughing.

Cue irritated face from stranger being laughed at. "Who are you, really?" he snapped.

As Jackie's laughter died down, she extended a polite hand, completely disregarding the dangerous looking weapon leaning on the man's shoulder. "Call me Jackie. Just Jackie. What's your name?"

Looking suitably hassled, he said, "Takayoshi Euro." he didn't bother taking the offered hand and slowly Jackie lowered it back to her side.

Jackie clapped her hands together cheerfully. "Well, Takayoshi Euro, do you by any chance know where the _finest_ ale of this Island can be sold? Oh, and by the way, you look pretty handy with that fancy knife of yours." She added idly.

"It's not a knife, it's called _Same no Ha, _an original weapon, and the old man's tavern is the first thing you'll see when you step foot in the village." Euro regarded Jackie suspiciously. "You're not a pirate, are you?" his eyes flickered to her small boat, and was just deciding that no, she probably wasn't one since there were no other crew in sight, let alone a Jolly Roger, when said girl chirped happily,

"Yep, sure am!"

Euro raised a dubious eyebrow. "You are?"

Jackie hummed her agreement, bouncing precariously on the balls of her feet, hands clasped tightly behind her. "I'm going to find a strong crew, and together we're gonna sail the New World and find the legendary One Piece!" She beamed. "I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates! You look pretty strong. Wanna join my crew?"

Euro took a moment to let the shock settle. The appalling thing was that she looked in no way boastful nor cocky, just as if she was speaking a fact and as if she actually believed it. But still, her? The Pirate King? This girl, with the kinda small chest, was going to find One Piece?

"Hey!" Euro blinked out of his musings to see Jackie glaring furiously at him. It sent a chill up his spine. "I do _not _have a small chest!" she exclaimed heatedly, frowning. Oops. Had he said that out loud?

Euro recovered quickly and said, with the utmost casualty, "You kinda do." and before Jackie could say anything else, he continued, "and I'd rather not join a weakling crew like yours, thanks." With that, he turned his back on her and began walking towards the village.

Suddenly, he heard the air part and the wind howl, but his reflexes, no matter how fast, were only halfway alert before Euro felt... nothing. The throwing knife whizzed past his ear and stuck fast in a tree trunk. Feeling smug, the nineteen year old turned around. He raised an eyebrow at Jackie, but she only smiled sweetly. Then, he felt a steady stream of something warm make its way down the side of his cheek. He raised up a hand and then looked at it.

Blood.

What...? His eyes flickered back to Jackie's, and he nearly stepped back when he saw the bright, vivid violet shade her eyes were, as if boring into his very soul.

"Nicked your ear," she said casually, "next time, it could be your heart. Who knows?" In each hand, spinning on each pointer finger, was a Wind and Fire Wheel, the sharp edges glinting in the sunlight. Somehow, she managed to catch the padded part of the weapon with each twirl, so as to not harm herself. Her pouch of beli's were tied securely to her hip. She grinned up at Euro. "Wanna fight? Your fancy knife against _Kazekaki." _Jackie referred to her Wind and Fire Wheels proudly, stopping the movement and instead raising them tauntingly.

Euro blinked. Did she just...? Recovering quickly, he raised an eyebrow (again) and smirked. He disregarded the jab at his precious _Same no Ha, _but only for the moment. "Bring it on, flat-chested girl."

"I am _not_ flat-_chested_!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Well, there's the first chapter.

If you want some more description on their weapons, you can easily look up Jackie's Wind and Fire Wheels online, and Euro's weapon resembles Kisame from _Naruto_'s shark weapon thing. I kind of stole the weapon idea. So I don't own that, either. If you don't watch Naruto, you can just search up 'Kisame Naruto' on _Wikipedia_ or something. _Same no Ha_ translates directly (I hope) to _Sharks Tooth, _and _Kazekaki_ means _fire wind, _or something like that.

- Posted on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011


	2. Part Two: Potential and Disaster

**Disclaimer:** Hi. I don't own One Piece. Bye.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two: Potential and Disaster<strong>

Euro cocked his head to the side in a taunting manner, and watched in amusement as the gesture only seemed to make Jackie even more enraged. He shook his head with a slight chuckle and hefted _Same no Ha _up in the common defensive stance.

Her fury dwindling away quickly, Jackie raised Kazekaki and shot him an inferior glare. "Don't underestimate me, idiot." she jutted out her chin defiantly. "I'm stronger than I look."

Euro smiled just a bit. "Then in that case, don't underestimate me, either."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Jackie shot back, and with that closing statement, lunged for Euro, unable to keep still for a second longer.

Raising her left fist, _Kazekaki_ glinting menacingly under the sunlight, Jackie swiftly closed the distance between her and her opponent's face.

Startled at her speed, Euro just managed to bring _Same no Ha_ up to defend himself, and the two weapons clashed furiously. Instead of hearing the metal of her weapon slice across the bandages, Jackie looked down in surprise when she heard the sound of metal on metal. They were only just retreating, but the tiny, silver spikes that poked out from underneath the white bandages, before disappearing once again, had definitely been there.

Before Jackie could investigate her newfound discovery any further, Euro had recovered from his initial shock at the raven-haired girl's speed, and calmly used his upper arm muscles to side-sweep _Same no Ha_ with the intent to catch the younger girl in a single, clean blow.

But Jackie wouldn't have it. She raised her right arm quickly, _Kazekaki_ blocking the strike an inch away from her grinning head. Holding _Same no Ha_ back with strength that once again surprise Euro, she said, "Looks like we both have some tricks up our sleeves, huh?"

Euro smirked in approval and mild admiration, but said nothing. This girl, this seventeen year old girl, was holding back _Same no Ha_ with only a Wind and Fire Wheel. But his impressed state didn't last. The ends of _Kazekaki_, resembling spitting fire, were slowly digging their razor-sharp edges into his precious weapon, which was not okay with Euro, not at all.

He pulled back first, mostly out of concern for _Same no Ha_, and took a step back as Jackie swung _Kazekaki_ into thin air, where Euro had been just a moment ago.

Then they stood across from each other, both assessing the other, planning their attacks and strategies (well, Jackie was admiring _Same no Ha_ again, watching the spikes retreat in fascination), and waiting to see who would attack first.

Euro soon lost his patience, and proceeded to attack Jackie without warning.

He leaped forward and closed the distance in an instant, jolting Jackie from her reverie. Her left foot stepped back as she turned her body counter-clockwise slightly, but wasn't fast enough. A spike had just grazed her right shoulder when she bent sideways to the left, turning some more so that her back was to the deadly weapon, and following with a quick handstand, ignoring the slight twinge in her shoulder and using her left foot to kick the tip of _Same no Ha_, propelling her forward into another cartwheel and pushing Euro back a bit. Unfortunately, it also gave a spike the opportunity to punch its way through her thin boots, wounding the heel of her left foot.

Blood trickled slowly down her bare shoulder, but Jackie grinned happily as if it weren't there. "This is fun," she said aloud, bending her left leg with ease so that she could inspect her injury under her boot. After a quick glance and a small shrug, she put her foot back down and -

_Ziiiing_!

The second throwing knife that Jackie had taken from her boot, under the pretense of checking her wound, came speeding towards Euro, who only had time to widen his eyes and shift slightly before the tip grazed his right cheek. Blood welled up at the affected area and trickled down slowly. The knife embedded itself in the tree behind him, just above the first one.

He raised his hand up to wipe away the access blood, smirking ruefully. Damn. He hadn't been fast enough. But… He raised his huge, bandaged weapon, tilting his right hand and elbow so that _Same no Ha_ blocked his face and chest at an angle.

Simultaneously, they both ran for the other.

"Same no..." Euro started, wielding his weapon like an expert, eyes trained on his opponent, "... Ago!"

Kazekaki clashed powerfully with _Same no Ha_, actually letting out a ripple of pure, visible energy. Jackie was holding Euro at bay, both trying to fight for dominance over the other. With both hands occupied for both parties, Jackie kicked backwards, around her back and over her head with almost inhuman flexibility, successfully managing to hit a hard blow at Euro's head. With a low grunt on Euro's part, both fighters slid away from the other at the collision, raising up a thick cloud of dust.

Jackie, expecting Euro to check his wound before re-entering the battle, was surprised when _Same no Ha_ flashed into her view, through the dust, a second before it painfully scraped down her side. Blood welled up quickly in place of the wound, running down her hip and soaking through her tank in a matter of seconds.

Wincing in pain, Jackie gritted her teeth, determined not to let a sound out. Before the dust could fully clear, she caught sight of Euro's silhouette and lunged.

The sound of metal clashing filled the air as both parties, one with a head injury and the other with a gash in her side, ducked, dodged, slashed, and rolled. Their movements became a flurry of activity, both succumbing to their instincts, both managing to get a few cuts in here and there.

Suddenly, Euro changed tactics, bring up the butt of _Same no Ha_ and colliding the hilt with Jackie's jaw. They both heard the sickening crunch, and a searing pain shot through her wound, before staying there. Biting on her tongue so hard it started to bleed, Jackie swallowed her scream, instead letting out a strained grunt, and tried working her jaw slowly as she continued to exchange blows with Euro.

Kick. Slash. Dodge. Parry. Lunge.

The fight almost started to become monotonous; the moves repeated themselves again and again. Euro received some more minor cuts, and one long, deep one across his chest, as well as another heavy blow to his cranium. In turn, Jackie got swept of her feet in a low slash with _Same no Ha_, her back colliding painfully with the hard earth, along with some broken fingers, the result of when she had lost one _Kazekaki_ (it had been knocked back, hopelessly far), and had to resort to using her bare hand to hold back Euro's weapon.

Ten minutes later, battered, bruised and bleeding, Jackie and Euro stood across from each other in the large, strangely empty docking area, staring the other down but neither backing out. Jackie was clutching her still bleeding side, that had been quickly bandaged with a torn piece of her tank with one hand (the broken one), and held her remaining Wind and Fire wheel in the other, trying hard not to faint from the loss of too much blood. Euro was leaning quite a bit on _Same no Ha_, his twitching fingers resisting the overwhelming urge to clutch his head through his severe migraine.

Breathing hard, neither moved for a moment, then, figuring she should end the fight soon, Jackie shot up into action. Euro was surprised at her speed, even though she was severely injured (he knew where he had hit her) and braced himself to parry her next attack, when she leaped over him in a high somersault and landed behind him, running for the tree just a few paces ahead.

Twisting his body, Euro hurried to face his opponent, tensing his back in anticipation...

When he felt… nothing. Turning around fully, he saw Jackie standing before him, one _Kazekaki_ in one hand and a throwing knife in the other. Had she been… waiting for him?

Sensing his confusion, Jackie said shortly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I never attack my opponent when their back is to me."

Then, before Euro could reply, she ran past the clearing, closing the distance between them in an instant. "Kaze... Tatzumaki!" Jackie shouted, her remaining Kazekaki twirling faster, and faster, and faster... The blade twirled around her finger, speeding up until they were just a blur, a mini tornado forming, the wind actually becoming visible to the naked eye.

Eyes widening, Euro braced himself, _Same no Ha_ coming up to shield his chest...

_Fwoosh_…

The air shifted, ever so slightly, the leaves stopping their descent to the ground for just a moment. The wind blew without a care once more.

Euro.

Blood trickled slowly from his mouth, a thin, red line. The world around them blurred out, until it was just the two of them, Jackie's flyaway strands of hair floating in the breeze, _Kazekaki_ protruding from Euro's chest, one lone, sharp flame piercing his skin right in the middle, purposely missing any vital organs.

It seemed like eternity had passed before either of them even dared to move. Euro was slipping in and out of consciousness, his lips pressed into a grim line as he struggled to stay awake.

Then, Jackie allowed herself a brief, inward grin in victory. Pulling out her red-stained weapon, she hefted Euro over her shoulder, and as a silent agreement passed between the two of them, the both of them started walking in the direction of the village…

But not before grabbing Jackie's oh-so-precious, remaining _Kazekaki_ along the way.

"Um… Jackie?" Euro's voice was hoarse; raspy.

"Yeah?"

"You're… going the wrong way."

"...I knew that."

* * *

><p>Jackie hummed quietly to herself. "Lala-la... la – OW!" Wincing, she attempted to withdrawal her arm, but the doctor only tugged it back with a quick glare to silence the pirate. "Jeez, old man, don't need to be so rough..." She muttered under her breath, which, of course, he heard, causing another quick tug.<p>

Looking around, she saw only a blinding white from the interior of the clinic, and frowned. "Hey, old man, could I have some gin? The strongest you've got, please."

"In my clinic? Not likely." The old man retaliated sharply, "And stop talking for a moment; your jaw will start smarting again. Not to mention the numerous slashes across your body. What in the world were you thinking, challenging Euro like that? He's immensely strong, you know."

Frowning, Jackie tugged on her ponytail with her free hand in agitation and pouted childishly. "Yeah, well, I won, didn't I?" She leaned forward eagerly. "Hey, old man, how is he doing, anyways?"

"He'll live," the doctor responded shortly.

Jackie leaned back in satisfaction, thinking about the fight earlier that day and rubbing her smarting (damn) jaw ruefully. Wow, he was strong. If it wasn't for her fast reflexes, she would have been skewered in an instant. And that sword-like weapon of his… _Same no Ha_… It sent shivers up her spine just thinking about it. It sure was cool!

While he was good, Jackie smiled slightly at herself for being better. That was a good thing, because if she was going to take Euro as her crew mate, it wouldn't be right for the captain to be weaker. And she was determined to recruit the blue-haired man into her crew.

Takayoshi Euro, First Mate. Yep, sounded pretty good to her!

Jackie's eye ticked as the needle pricked her skin, and waited impatiently for the doctor to stitch her side, where _Same no Ha_ had left a good, deep cut. The old man tugged on the thread with his teeth, and nodded in satisfaction at his work.

And kept on staring, and staring…

"HEY! Old man, pervert!" Jackie said furiously as her common sense finally caught up with her. She swung her right leg sideways, catching the man in his gut and sending him flying rather comically. She harrumphed. "...Ought to teach you... Pervert ossan..."

"Um, hey, everything alright in here?" A familiar voice called out. Without even turning to look, Jackie knew he had an eyebrow raised. Again.

"Yep!" She said cheerfully, waving at Euro, who indeed had the expression she thought he would on his face. "Everything is just peachy! How's your wound?" she asked in genuine concern. Then, she smiled cheekily. "Can't have my first mate injured before we set sail, ya know!"

Euro's eye ticked. "I'm not your first mate," he muttered. "but I'm fine; took a nap -" here, Jackie muttered, 'You passed out', but he ignored her and went on, "and I feel better already. Oh, and..." He started in a resigned voice. "You are a pretty good... mrggph..." He mumbled the last part, so that it was incoherent.

"What was that?" Jackie asked with an impish grin. "I didn't quite catch it."

"I said, you are a pretty good nngh."

"Come again?" She asked innocently.

"YOU'RE A GOOD FIGHTER!" Euro shouted, losing his composure. "There! I said it."

Jackie laughed. "Thanks, you too. You're a worthy adversary, Euro." A thought suddenly entered her mind and her face turned gravely serious, catching Euro's utmost attention. "I almost forgot... D'you have any gin?" She laughed when Euro nearly fell to the floor at her 'serious' request, sweat dropping.

Euro shook his head in disbelief. This girl had the most bizarre mood swings. "Yeah," he replied, rubbing his bandaged head, courtesy of Jackie, slowly. "I'll introduce you to the old man." Without waiting to see if she was following, Euro turned around and walked out the door, Jackie bounding happily (but carefully, minding her injured heel) behind him before moving up to his side.

"So who's this 'old man'?" She asked curiously, cocking her head to the side to see Euro's profile better.

"He's my grandfather, Takayoshi Gin." Jackie let slip a giggle at the name. Euro eyed her with an eyebrow raised. "What?" he asked simply, turning left. Jackie followed him, still giggling.

"Takayoshi... Gin. And I want to drink some gin. Which means I want to drink your grandfather. Get it?" Jackie asked between bouts of laughter. "I mean, that isn't even possible, but it's funny!" Euro rolled his eyes to the heavens. This girl...

"Euro-kun! Euro-kun!" A voice shouted a ways away. Jackie and Euro turned to see a lone woman, wringing her hands nervously.

"Is there something wrong, Tennouji-san?" Euro asked politely.

"It's... It's Gin, Euro. He - " Tennouji started, but before she could finish, Euro was running in the direction of the tavern as fast as he could.

Jackie blinked in confusion, then thanked the lady and ran after the blue-haired man.

* * *

><p>Euro stared at the scene before him, appalled, as Jackie caught up to him. "What – what happened here?"<p>

The doors were unhinged and tossed carelessly to the side. Random parts of the bar were scorched black, and there were numerous, ragged holes in the walls. Through the holes and the door, Jackie and Euro spotted about ten men, clanking tankards of ale together and laughing uproariously. At the center of the room, smug eyes overlooking the place as he took a sip of liquor, was a man that oozed authority.

A smirk was on his lips, and his green eyes danced as he looked at something presumably in the corner. His dirty blonde hair fell over his forehead and his heavy-set body looked solid and strong. He even laughed evilly. Beside him, a woman with fiery red hair and dark eyes exuded the same confidence as the first man.

"What the – hey! Euro!" Jackie followed Euro without a second's hesitation as he strode purposefully inside the room.

The whole inside of the bar abruptly stopped their celebrations when they heard Euro punch the side of the door in his anger, nearly shaking the whole place. Several pirates jumped, and even the two leaders looked surprised. While they were distracted, Jackie slipped behind and around Euro and towards the far corner, where an aging man who must've been Gin sat hunched over, tied up, and bleeding.

"What's going on in here?" Euro practically roared. "Where's – grandpa!" Catching sight of Jackie slashing Gin's bonds open, and taking the dirty rag out of his mouth, Euro ran to his grandfather, worry written clearly on his face.

Together, they helped Gin up to his feet, who coughed up more blood into his closed fist. "Bastards..." They heard him mumble irritably, making Euro chuckle lowly despite himself. Gin tried to wave the two off, but Euro and Jackie held on stubbornly.

"Oi! What're you two goons going?" A random pirate asked menacingly, holding up a sword before him and Euro. "That's our hostage those two've got, Kagemine-kun and Hina-san." He added to the two leaders. "What should we do?"

Kagemine crossed his arms and smirked, nodding to Hina, who cocked her head to the side and spoke two, deadly words.

"Kill them."

With a roar, the pirates around them attacked.

It was all happening too fast. Just this morning, Euro and Jackie had been sparring at the harbour. And now... some more entertainment had just arrived. Jackie grinned despite the situation.

"Hold him," Jackie said quickly, leaving the weak Gin's side so that Euro held his grandfather on his own. "I'll take care of them."

"But your wounds," Euro started, but stopped when Jackie tauntingly raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yours are worse," she replied bluntly. "so sit back and enjoy the show!" She drew _Kazekaki _from her side, the metal making a satisfactory sound as the sharp ends rubbed against each other. "This'll be fun," she murmured gleefully as the first five pirates came surging towards her, "this'll be fun indeed."

Jackie side-stepped ugly number one and smashed her elbow into his face, and he reached upwards to cup the wound only to crumple to the ground as she followed with a swift kick to his stomach that would have done Black Leg Sanji proud. She ducked the blade of ugly number two, shuffling closer and slashing with one-half of _Kazekaki_. Ugly number two fell back with a grunt as Jackie tugged her Wind and Fire Wheel free, simultaneously leaning forward and kicking back ugly number three with her left foot, who had attempted to sneak up behind her.

With a little push of her grounded leg, Jackie propelled herself sideways so that she spun to the left, counter-clockwise, and slashed ugly number four and five across the chests, before landing in a crouch with her arms extended, _Kazekaki_ connected to the two bodies. Jackie stood, detaching her weapons, five pirates injured at her feet. Not dead, but rendered useless.

And the whole tavern watched in amazement as they saw the whole process happen in a mere seven seconds.

Jackie smirked in triumph before wincing. "Ow," she muttered, gently palming her re-opened wound on her side. Blood slowly seeped through her clothing. "Son of a…"

Then, the second round of pirates surged forward.

Readying herself, Jackie blinked in surprise when a massive body stepped in front of her. Looking back, Euro stuck out his tongue childishly. "My turn," he said with a malicious grin and a dangerous twinkle in his eye.

_Same no Ha_ placed itself before the oncoming pirates, ready for anything. As the first pirate stepped forward, cutlass drawn, Euro swung the powerful weapon, catching the surprised man in the gut. When he drew back, droplets of blood were seeping through his tattered shirt, and with a cry of disbelief, he crumpled to the ground. Euro stepped back in satisfaction, and the tiny, silver spikes withdrew back under the white bandages, dripping red.

Jackie couldn't help but marvel at _Same no_ _Ha_'s true power once again. How the spikes even came to be, was still a mystery. Possibly a devil fruit?

Raising his weapon to shield his face from a horde of bullets, Euro swung _Same no Ha_ in a clean side sweep, catching three more pirates, one after the other, and flinging them to the ground. The last pirate looked at him nervously, stashing his rifle aside and drawing his sword. He charged with a yell - only to see stars as Euro hit him in the side of his head with the butt of _Same no Ha_.

"They aren't dead." Euro told 'Kagemine' and 'Hina' bluntly. "But unless you leave this tavern right now, that will soon change. Grab your men and go."

Kagemine smirked. He slowly, leisurely took another sip of his drink, causing Euro to narrow his eyes slightly. Smacking his lips, Kagemine set down the mug, and started to clap. "Well done, well done, young ones. You two are quite the fighters. Say, want to join my crew? You'll be very…" He looked them up and down slowly, before smiling in an evil way. "Useful."

"Like hell we will," Jackie snarled, stepping up to Euro's side with Gin leaning heavily against her. She set Euro's grandfather down next to the wall, where he glared and muttered profanities at Kagemine and Hina. "Besides, I'm already my own captain. And Euro's my first mate, baka." Sticking out her tongue childishly, Jackie taunted him. "Baka, baka baaaaaka. Baaa-" Euro clamped his hand over her mouth, and the muffled, 'ka?' was incoherent. Jackie tore his hand away, glaring daggers at the older man. "Hey, what's the big idea, Euro?"

"First of all, I'm not your first mate. And secondly, the big idea is that you sound like a little kid, idiot."

"Your face sounds like a little kid!" Jackie retorted, face scrunched up pertly.

Euro snorted. "That didn't even make any sense."

"Your face doesn't make any sense!"

"Why you little…"

Kagemine and Hina sweat dropped as Jackie and Euro lunged for each other, weapons clashing and raising a lot of dust in the process.

"Oh yeah?" Euro shouted as he swung _Same no Ha_, only to meet thin air as Jackie ducked the blow and returned the gesture with a swipe of one _Kazekaki_. "Well, your mom's face doesn't make any sense!" he shouted triumphantly.

Jackie stopped fighting immediately, frowning. "My mom is dead."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Euro said gravely, stepping back and lowering _Same no Ha_. "So is mine."

"I feel your pain." Jackie replied sympathetically. "You see, my mom died when I was young, and..."

As Jackie and Euro stood there, across from each other, nodding their heads sagely and swapping life stories, Hina got a tick on her forehead. "HELLO, we're sitting right here," she said, waving her hands wildly. "What is with those two?" She muttered, mostly to herself.

Euro and Jackie stopped nodding and blinked in their direction, as if they just remembered they were there in the room.

"Oh," Euro said flatly. "you're still here."

"What, are you waiting for an invitation or something?" Jackie added, "Get lost, idiots."

Hina gaped. "Kagemine-kun!" she whined to her captain. "They aren't even listening to us!"

"Don't worry, Hina-san." Kagemine soothed, still smirking that infuriating smirk, before regarding Jackie and Euro calmly. "Now, I don't think you two know who I am. I am the Infallible Iichoruu Kagemine, captain to the Eternal pirates. Surely, you've heard of me." the last part was more of a statement, rather than a question.

Jackie and Euro both raised an eyebrow, turning to look at each other with similar what-is-this-guy-talking-about faces. Then, they turned back to Kagemine, and deadpanned in unison,

"No. Who are you?"

"Kagemine-kuuuun!" Hina wailed, clutching her chest, over her heart, in pure horror. She looked over to her captain, who was on his knees, drawing circles on the floor with a dark cloud hovering over him.

"If I could be re-born, I want to be a sea cucumber..." he muttered to himself, face downcast.

"Captain!" Hina called frantically, fanning her face repeatedly. She swung around to face Jackie and Euro furiously. "You two! Look at what you've done. Lying to Kagemine-kun like that..."

Kagemine perked up, "They were lying?"

"No." Jackie and Euro said flatly.

Kagemine went back to drawing circles aimlessly.

"You!" Hina said, pointing an accusing finger at the two. "Stop that! You're bothering him!"

"Your face is bothering him," they said simultaneously, grinning.

A dark cloud hovered over Hina's face. Thunder appeared to light up her features, making her resemble a ghost.

"What did you say?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

_Same no Ago_ means _Shark's Jaw_, and _Kaze Tatzumaki_ means _Wind Tornado_. At least, I'm hoping it does. Iichoruu Kagemine is pronounced; ee-cho-ryu ka-gay-meen. Oh, and a special shout out to _Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin_ for being awesome and reviewing my very first chapter of _Kaizoku!_ only a day after the first chapter!

- Posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011


	3. Part Three: Farewell

**Disclaimer:** Must I do this again? Alright, I don't own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three: Farewell<strong>

Jackie turned to look at Hina with an _are-you-stupid_? face, before obliging to the woman's weird request. "I _said_," she started, with exasperation evident in her tone, "'Your face is bothering him.'" here, she used quotation marks to indicate that she was citing herself.

The dark cloud flashed and illuminated Hina's face once again.

Euro placed a hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Uh, Jackie? I think that was a rhetorical question."

"…Oh." Jackie blinked and looked at Hina, who was looking scarier by the second. "Err, sorry about that, then." she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. Euro rolled his eyes to the heavens.

Hina was not amused. "Don't you... _ever_... insult _my _face again. Got that?" she whispered menacingly.

Jackie made a weird face. "We didn't... we weren't... it's a joke," she finally said, as if explaining to a child. "You know... your face? Your mom? Your mom's face? Jokes. We weren't insulting your face... It's like a comeback." she finished lamely.

Slowly, Hina relaxed her tense muscles. "Oh." she blinked. "So, you weren't insulting my face?" her eyes lit up and she tossed her hair elegantly. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Before Jackie could reply, Euro spoke up with irritation evident in his tone. "That doesn't matter. Why are we even discussing this with you, when I should be beating you up, right now?"

"Wow... that was cool, Euro!" Jackie said, nodding her head in approval. She gave him two thumbs up and flashed a cheesy grin. "As expected of my first mate!"

Euro got a tick in his forehead, ignoring her 'first mate' comment. "Urusai,"

Suddenly, Kagemine ceased drawing circles on the floor and stood, dusting off his pants nonchalantly, as if he _hadn't _just been in a deep depression.

Both Jackie and Euro turned to him, and deadpanned, "Oh. You're still here."

Kagemine, rather comically, returned to muttering to himself, drawing circles on his palm once again. "If I were to be reborn, I would want to be a gnat..."

They both ignored him.

Furious, Hina said, "You two _will _stop insulting my captain right _now! _Captain Kagemine-kun?" Kagemine's head perked up, and Hina smirked deviously. "How about we show these two _amateurs_ what being a pirate is all about?"

"Of course, Hina-san!" Kagemine said in determination, no longer sulking in his corner. His face turned confident and calm immediately. Jackie secretly thought that one would think Hina was the captain with the authority she exuded, rather than Kagemine.

Euro sweat dropped at Kagemine's newfound confidence. "This guy has severe mood-swings. More than you do." he told Jackie in a whisper, who started to nod in agreement before realizing what he had said, and promptly reached up and flicked his forehead.

"Shut up!" Jackie said with a scowl, before chuckling quietly to herself for no apparent reason.

Euro shook his head. "See what I mean...?"

Jackie ignored him.

"So, you two want a fight, or something?" she asked the two before her with a slight tilt to her head.

Euro cracked his knuckles easily. "I wouldn't mind fighting the people who trashed my grandfather's tavern."

"Are you sure about this?" Kagemine asked, amusement evident in his tone.

"Bring it on." Jackie replied with a smirk.

"As you wish. _Chaku-chaku no..." _Kagemine started, arms extended before him. Jackie and Euro exchanged a quick glance, both thinking 'devil fruit', "_arm!"_

Jackie grabbed _Kazekaki _and tossed one to her opposite hand, in the normal fighting stance. Euro tightened his hold on the hilt of _Same no Ha._

…And they both sweat dropped, because instead of a supernatural power charging at them, Kagemine ran for the two, his arm completely normal.

Setting aside her confusion, Jackie stepped forward and slashed his arm in an upwards motion, easily cutting down to the bone. She blinked, surprised. Why had it been so easy…?

Kagemine fled back to Hina, clutching his arm. However, instead of bleeding to certain death, Jackie and Euro watched in fascination as a thick, white substance appeared on the edges of Kagemine's cut, fusing the lips together and sealing the injury. A flash of pain flickered in his expression, but then he replaced it with a taunting smirk.

"I ate the Chaku-Chaku no Mi." he said, proudly. "The glue-glue fruit. Any cuts I obtain will fuse themselves back together with glue." He looked extremely pleased of himself, exchanging a grin with Hina.

Not bothering to reply, Jackie ran for Kagemine, _Kazekaki_'s sharp edges glinting.

Suddenly, glue shot from Kagemine's outstretched fingers, coating Jackie's left hand, but fortunately missing her weapon. She staggered back, surprised. Glue laced between her fingers and over her knuckles. Choosing to ignore it, she flexed her fingers, and…

Kagemine curled his lip in satisfaction as Jackie attempted to spread out her fingers. "My ability can harden instantly." He explained, briefly.

Jackie struggled in vain, trying to rid herself of the hardened substance that fused her fingers together. Frustration written clearly in her features, she didn't notice the fist connect with her jaw until it was too late.

With a short yell, the raven-haired girl flew back. The weapon in her left hand skittered across the floor, and her hand made sharp contact with the brick wall behind her. C_raaack! _The coating broke open, and Jackie flexed her hand in satisfaction, ignoring her smarting jaw as best she could.

"Alright..." she rolled her shoulders back, and cracked her neck from side to side, before grabbing a throwing knife in her boot and getting into the standard defensive stance. "Euro," she called behind her back, keeping her eyes trained on Kagemine.

"Yeah?" Euro asked idly, raising an eyebrow.

"You get the girl, I the captain." Vaguely, Jackie registered Hina pulling a katana seemingly from thin air.

"Roger that." Euro replied with a mock salute.

And together, they charged forward.

* * *

><p>"It's useless!" Kagemine crowed, side-stepping Jackie's dangerous swing. He lightly touched her arm, coating the aforementioned limb in glue, the thick substance spreading fast. With a hiss, Jackie pulled away harshly.<p>

Both captains stepped back.

Jackie quickly made her way to the wall to her left, and sharply crashed her arm to the hard brick wall. The glue coating broke open with little effort, and Jackie flexed her limb for a few moments. Then, she charged again.

Kagemine stretched out his fingers, glue shooting out from the tips, but Jackie vaulted up and over his head, landing poised behind him. Then, as if dancing, she gracefully registered cut after cut to Kagemine's body, before back-flipping a respectable distance away, _Kazekaki _and her throwing knife glistening red.

Blood flowed continuously out of his wounds, but other than a slight wince, Kagemine ignored the pain as the lips of the cuts fused themselves together, and the bleeding ceased after a few moments.

"I told you, It's useless!" Kagemine cried. "Just give up now, and surrender!"

"Like hell I will," Jackie growled in reply. She reached for Kagemine once more, weapons at the ready.

Cut, slash, dodge, smack a limb into a wall. No matter what Jackie did, where she cut, how deep the cut was, the wounds would always glue back together. Her stamina was slowly dwindling, her patience thinning. Kagemine had managed to get in a few lucky shots, and he was a little breathless as well.

Ten minutes had passed, and from the corner of her eye, she noticed that Euro was gaining the upper hand against Hina, who was bleeding in several places and was currently yelling profanities at Euro, for ruining her once perfect hairdo. Well, she thought, if he's almost done… I should get this over with as soon as possible.

"I see why they call you the Infallible Iichoruu Kagemine." Jackie said with a grin, panting slightly. "And why you call yourselves the Eternal Pirates."

Kagemine beamed. "Yes, that was pretty clever, wasn't it? I made it up myself. No one has ever defeated me, before."

Jackie looked amazed. "Really! What about people with rifles? Are you saying that even bullets can't hurt you?"

At this, Kagemine looked shamefaced at the ceiling. "…No, they can injure me." he mumbled quietly, as if Jackie were reprimanding him for dropping his ice cream, "But!" he recovered the next second, "I am still Infallible! And I _will _defeat you!"

"Good luck with that," Jackie replied, a little disappointed at his response, "but I'm not going to let you stop me now, when I've just barely begun my adventure. After all, I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

Ignoring Kagemine's wide eyes, bugging out of his head at her near casual remark, Jackie sped forward, until she was right up in her adversary's face. "Game over." She said lowly, and with that, brought the hilt of her throwing knife down hard on the top of his head, watching as his eyes narrowed in disbelief, before rolling back in his head, his form crumpling to the floor.

Stepping back, Jackie nodded to herself in satisfaction as she looked down on Kagemine's unconscious form. Turning to see how Euro's fight was going, she grinned when she saw him looking at her calmly, Hina passed out and bleeding at his feet, her hair a rat's nest.

She strode across the room, stooping low to pick up her fallen _Kazekaki. _She attached her weapons back to her hip, and was just about to re-sheath her throwing knife when she heard a voice that wasn't Euro's.

"S-stop right t-there!" a pirate, presumably one of Kagemine's men, stuttered. He held a cutlass in one hand, and Jackie's eyes narrowed, as did Euro's, when they saw Gin, Euro's grandfather, held defensively in front of the pirate, the tip of the cutlass held threateningly at his throat. The dirty rag had been stuffed back into Gin's mouth, who was glaring at the hand holding the cutlass, as he was facing away from his captor.

"Why you little…" Jackie started, hand clutched her throwing knife in frustration.

Euro put a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up at him, shook his head with a small smile.

As Jackie opened her mouth to demand why he was being so calm, she heard a sickening crack and quickly whipped around to see…

Takayoshi Gin took off his gag and spat on the floor in resentment, right next to the unconscious pirate's head. "Dirty bastard, thinking you can get the better of me…" he cracked his knuckles in satisfaction.

Jackie stared in slight shock, before laughing uproariously. "Wow! Old man, you can really pack a punch!" she laughed some more, shaking her head as it dwindled to small chuckles.

Now that everything was taken care of, Jackie studied Euro's grandfather carefully. He had was nearly bald, with what hair he had left grey-turning-white. Drooping grey eyes locked with hers steadily. A grey handlebar moustache was his most prominent feature, and he was in rather good shape, about as tall as Jackie was. He was wearing a normal floral print shirt and white khakis. Sandals adorned his feet.

Gin turned his stare to the violet-eyed girl, his gaze calculating. He took out an old-fashioned pipe out of his pocket, lit it, and stuck it in his mouth. He leisurely blew a ring of smoke. Then, he turned to Euro. "Clean this mess up, boy."

"What?" Euro asked incredulously. "No! I'm not the one who messed up the tavern, old man!"

"Yeah, well I'm too old to clean it up myself."

"You just took out a pirate!" Euro protested, irritation evident in his tone.

"A rather weak one, too." Gin muttered to himself.

Jackie laughed again. "I like you, ossan. You're funny!"

"I don't believe seeing you around. Are you a traveler?" Gin asked her gruffly, ignoring her comment.

"I'm Jackie. I'm a pirate. I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Jackie introduced herself with a grin.

Gin raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed. "Are you one of his men?" he jerked a finger at the unconscious Kagemine.

Jackie made a face. "No way. I'm my own captain. Oh, and Euro's my first mate!"

Gin turned to Euro, then looked back at Jackie. Then, he started laughing boisterously. "This little squirt? Euro?"

"Shut up, old man!" Euro retorted. "And I'm not her first mate, okay? She's dead set on it, but I never agreed."

Gin waved his hand carelessly. "Why not? Just go, puny eggplant. I can finally get you out of my hair."

"You don't have any hair," Euro muttered sourly.

Gin ignored him, chuckling. He turned to Jackie. "Take him! He's of no use here, anyways."

Jackie laughed. "Thanks, old man!"

Muttering to himself, Euro glowered at them both, before turning at walking out of the tavern without another word.

"Where's he going?" Jackie asked, cocking her head to the side.

Gin blew another ring of smoke without bothering to reply, watching through a smashed window as Euro jogged around the corner. When he was gone, he sighed heavily. "Listen, Jillian."

"It's Jackie."

"Whatever. Anyways, I have a question for you." He looked Jackie in the eye, searching. After a while, he spoke. "Are you really serious, about taking the little squirt with you?"

Jackie nodded seriously. "Of course. I've decided ever since we met at the harbour."

Gin nodded approvingly. "Good, good. He's a strong one, that boy is." He blew another puff of smoke, exhaling noisily. "Listen. I know Euro. And he isn't going to leave this village that easily."

"Why not?" Jackie asked with a frown.

"Because, he feels obligated to the people." Gin replied. At Jackie's questioning look, he elaborated. "Euro never knew his parents, not really. His mother; my daughter… She died giving birth to him. His father died when he was three… He never knew his father._ I_ barely even knew him." He sighed once more, exhaling smoke.

"Euro loves the people of Fairmill Village; this village. Ever since he was old enough to hold a weapon, he fended off pirates and mountain bandits from this place. He feels as if he's the only one who can save us; take care of us.

"But that's not true. We can take care of ourselves here; he's just too damn stubborn." Gin chuckled. "He takes after me. But that's beside the point. The squirt has this dream; an ambition that he _can't_ fulfill if he stays here."

"What's his dream?" Jackie asked curiously.

"That's for him to tell, not me." Gin replied, pipe clenched firmly between his teeth. "But he needs to get out there and accomplish his dream, and he can't do that if he feels obligated to this place. D'ya understand, Ginny?"

"Jackie."

"Whatever."

"…Yeah." Jackie finally replied, after a long silence had passed between the two. Gin looked at her, and she grinned. "I told you already, ossan, I've decided; he's gonna join my crew, whatever it takes."

Gin smirked. "Then, I'll leave him to you."

"You can count on me, old man!"

* * *

><p>"No! OW! Jackie…" Euro growled, narrowed eyes trained on the aforementioned girl. "Where are you <em>taking<em> _me?"_

Jackie managed to plaster an semi-innocent look on her face, but Euro wasn't buying it for one second. "I just wanted to show you my… my uh, ship!"

"It's not a ship, it's a boat." Euro replied. "And I've already seen it; it's nothing special."

Jackie stuttered, "Well… I, ah, you need to look on the _inside _of my boat. Yeah, the inside!" she inwardly congratulated herself at her quick thinking.

Euro gave her a flat look. "What are you planning?"

"Planning?" Jackie asked nervously, "I'm not planning anything. What are you saying? Psh. The very idea."

"Jackie… You are a horrible liar."

Jackie gave him a droll look, still pulling him by the arm. Euro chuckled a little, resigned to his fate. He'd let her take him… wherever she was planning to take him, but only for now.

They arrived at the harbour a while later, Jackie still marching determinedly with Euro in tow. Euro rolled his eyes as she stopped right in front of the boat, and chuckled when he saw his things, save for _Same no Ha, _whom he had in his opposite hand, stowed away in the small space. "Jackie, I told you, as much as I would like to come with you, I can't. I won't."

"But why noooot?" Jackie whined. "Everyone else says you should go!"

Euro clenched his jaw, his face turning hard. "…They said that?"

"Yes, we did."

Euro and Jackie turned around to see the whole of Fairmill Village standing behind them, a few choice people at the head of the group.

"Everyone…" Euro said, confusion laced in his tone. "What are you all doing here?"

A middle-aged man looked from side to side, before stepping forward. "Euro-kun, you have saved us from pirates and mountain bandits for too long. We can take care of ourselves," he said earnestly. "You have a dream to fulfill, don't you?" the people around him murmured their agreement.

Euro frowned. "Well, yes, but that doesn't matter. You all need me."

"Squirt!" Takayoshi Gin's voice echoed throughout the crowd, and he stepped forward with something in his hand. Confused, Euro stepped forward. "Where is It?" Gin asked. Euro seemed to know what he was talking about, and his hand flew up to clutch something against his neck.

Tilting her head, Jackie strained to get a better view of the necklace. Huh, she'd never noticed it before. The long-ish chain was attached to a small, silver coloured key that glistened in the sun light. Jackie stared at it in fascination.

"It's here, grandpa." Euro replied, still confused. "But what…?"

"Here." Reaching out his hand, Gin placed something in Euro's open palm.

Jackie and Euro looked at the object. Euro gasped quietly. "Old man… This is…"

The locket was circular in shape, and looked as if it could be opened. It was the same silvery colour as the necklace, and about the same size as well, and rather thin. On the front of the locket were the engraved words, "New World." And below it, two faded letters which Jackie guessed to be initials.

Euro suddenly felt the familiar pressure of tears behind his eyes; tears that he hadn't shed since… Well, since _that day._ Euro stubbornly refused the tears to fall, leaving his eyes wet and glistening. Slowly, he closed his hand over the locket, clutching it protectively in his hand.

"Thanks." He said, simply. Gin nodded gruffly, before turning around and taking another smoke, effectively hiding the tear trekking down the side of his face. "Thank you, everyone." Euro said next, this time directed to the whole village.

He looked up into the faces of everyone he had ever known. They were grinning, nodding in encouragement, putting on their brave faces, just for him. Euro felt the pressure behind his eyes build again, and quickly turned away.

"Well?" he asked Jackie, one eyebrow raised, "Are you coming? Captain." He added with a slight smile.

Jackie grinned, pumping a fist into the air. "Alright!"

The two got onto the two-man boat, and Euro set down _Same no Ha _as Jackie got ready to set sail.

Once the rope had been untied, the boat began to drift away from Fairmill Village.

Euro turned around, facing his people… his family. "_Everyone_!" he yelled, cupping his hands to his mouth. "_Thank you for everything_!" he grinned, "_Make sure to look out for my bounty in the near future_!" taking a deep breath, he said his last words to Gin.

"_See ya, old man! I'll find it! I'll find it, and make you proud_!"

* * *

><p><strong>Crew Members<strong>

**Jackie** - 17 years old, Captain.

**Takayoshi Euro** - 19 years old, First Mate.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Well… I bet you're all wondering what Euro's talking about, right? Don't worry! Next chapter, his past (well, part of it, at least) will be revealed! And Jackie's past is not to be discovered for a while, still… Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And this marks the end of the Katarina Arc! There should be one more chapter before we start the Ichigo Arc!

- Posted on Sunday, December 25th, 2011


	4. Part Four: Into the Past

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four: Into the Past<strong>

**Fairmill Village, Katarina Island, East Blue**

**Nine years ago**

"Itadakimaaaa-su!" ten years old Takayoshi Euro clapped his hands together, smiling broadly at the middle-aged woman before him.

She had short, dark brown hair that brushed her shoulders, and kind brown eyes with faint laugh lines that crinkled whenever she smiled. An apron was draped across her slim build. A kind hearted woman, Deena was practically a second mother to Euro, whose biological mother had died giving birth to the young, blue-haired boy ten years ago.

Deena smiled at Euro as he happily ate his lunch, grinning at the older woman with his mouth still full. The sides of her eyes crinkled. "Happy birthday, Euro." She said kindly, resting her palms on the smooth surface of the bar table that separated the two.

Euro muffled something incoherent, his mouth full of food, then swallowed and said, "Thank you, Deena-chan!"

"Oi, Deena-san!" an old man called from across the room. "Bring us some beers, please!" he gestured between him and a few of his friends, who raised their empty mugs with identical grins.

Deena laughed lightly, her voice a soft, soothing sound to Euro's ears. "Coming right up," she called back, amusement in her tone. She looked back at Euro, who was gulping down his orange juice as if his life depended on it.

"Gin-sama will be here soon, Euro," she told him in an assuring tone.

Euro scowled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't care," he said stubbornly, "he forgot my birthday, anyways."

Deena shook her head, smiling, "he didn't forget, Euro. He just likes to pretend he forgot, so it seems like he doesn't care."

And with that said, turned to get the beers for the old men.

* * *

><p>"Oi, old man," Euro rested his head over his crossed arms, which were on the cool marble surface of the counter. It was a day after his birthday, which Gin had indeed forgotten (but it had been a good birthday regardless, because Deena had baked him a cake), and he was watching his grandfather wipe a mug absently, bored out of his mind. Gin punched him on the head in response to Euro's 'old man' remark. "Ow!" Euro clutched the rising lump on his head, a tear in his eye. "What was that for?"<p>

"Che." Gin scoffed, "Don't call me old man, squirt, it's rude." He said casually.

Grumbling, Euro forged on, "Hey, grandpa,"

"Eh?"

"Where is It?"

Gin paused for a moment, ceasing all movement. After a while, he set the mug and rag down, taking out his pipe and lighting it. His hand crept to his neck, the only place the aging man deemed safe enough, and took the key and locket on the chain out from under his floral print shirt. He unclasped it from his neck, the necklace sitting in his palm as he studied it thoughtfully. Then, he held it out for Euro to take eagerly.

Euro, a big smile on his face, peered at the necklace thoroughly, the pad of his thumb sweeping over the initials of his father. "Grandpa, tell me about okāsan and otōsan."

It was the same question he asked, every time he saw the chain.

Gin chuckled a little bit. Blew a ring of smoke. For some reason, he never tired of that question. He leaned against the counter, looked around the empty tavern for a moment, then spoke.

"Your okāsan was the nicest woman you'd ever meet."

"Like Deena?" Euro asked, absently drawing circles on the bar table.

"Like Deena." Gin agreed, before getting back on track. "She helped me at the tavern every day. Everyone loved her." He exhaled, smoke shielding his features for a moment. "Then, your dad and his crew docked on our village one day. His ship was wrecked, and he had come here to get provisions as well as get his ship fixed. While they were here, your otōsan and his crew always came to this tavern, and he always sat in this same exact spot that you're sitting in now."

Grinning a little, Euro squirmed in his seat, his _otōsan's _seat. "And then?" he prompted, far too engrossed in the story, his small thumb sweeping repeatedly over the surface of the smooth key and locket.

"Your okāsan would serve him every day." Gin continued after a moment, "Their ship was beyond repair, and they had to get a new one built. So, they stayed here for quite a while. I didn't know anyone on the crew aside from that rascal first mate, Mori; I didn't even know your father's name. Your mother called him Wine-kun, because he always ordered the same type of wine whenever he came to the tavern. Soon after, your okāsan and otōsan fell in love, and before we knew it, your mother was pregnant with you.

Then, your father left the island, but not before promising Fallon that he would come back for her. He gave her that locket," Gin pointed to the chain in Euro's hands, "It was her most prized possession." he finished, exhaling smoke.

Euro frowned a little, like he always did at the end of the story. "And where did dad go?"

The answer that came from Gin, were words that he had said many a time before. "I don't know." He stuck the pipe in his mouth. Inhaled. Paused. Exhaled. "The locket was the only thing that linked Fallon to your dad. It was highly possible that he went back to the New World. But, then again, who knows?"

Silently, Euro unclasped the locket, smiling softly as the face of his mother looked up at him from the picture. Takayoshi Fallon had bright blue hair, the same shade as Euro's own. Her eyes were weird, not matching her hair one bit – they were a pretty violet shade, which, despite its vivid colour, still managed to look soft and kind. Euro thought Fallon looked pretty, even though her eyes and her hair didn't match.

Still gazing at the picture, he then lightly ran his fingers over the other half of the locket, where half a photo lay, its edges black in colour; the result of a fire that had burned many years ago. Gin had told him that his mother barely had time to escape the house alive, let alone save the necklace, and so part of the picture was nothing but charred remains. The half of his father's face that he could see showcased everything from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his eyes – his hair was blonde, but his eyes were blue, like Euros. But other than that, distinct features were scarce. The man staring at Euro could have been anyone.

Then, Euro thought back a few years before, when his father's first mate (according to Gin) had sent a letter by way of messenger bird, proclaiming his father dead.

_Fallon,_

_Captain has been killed by the cursed disease. Our crew has disbanded. I'm terribly sorry. They are coming after us. Keep the child safe: both your lives are in danger should the World Government find out about the kid. The key may be a keepsake. It's of no use to us any longer. Perhaps in the future, the child might start his own adventure and find the journal._

_Take care,_

_Mori._

The letter, meant for his mother, hadn't made much of an impact on Euro, aside from the fact that there was a journal out there, somewhere in the New World, possibly with information on his father. But other than that, nothing major had changed that day; after all, he had never even known his dad. However, every now and then, he felt… strangely empty inside. Growing up without a father or mother, he'd discovered, was hard. His only consolation when he felt this way was knowing that he had Gin, Deena, and the entire village watching him, helping him. That little bit of knowledge never failed to make him feel better.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

After another moment, Euro coiled the long chain neatly in his palm, the locket and key hanging off the edge of his too-small hand. Without another word, he held the necklace out for Gin to take.

Exhaling smoke, Gin reached out his hand – and paused. Euro looked up at his grandfather in confusion. "Grandpa?"

"…Take it." Gin finally said, after a long silence between the two.

Wide-eyed, Euro gaped up at Gin. "Wha – "

"Here," Gin said, taking the necklace. He slowly, carefully slid the locket off the chain, before pocketing the aforementioned object. Then, he gave the remaining chain and key to Euro, placing it in his palm and curling his fingers over Euro's.

"Grandpa?" Euro asked, "Are you… is this…" he found he couldn't form a complete sentence, at a loss for words.

"Keep it safe." Gin said simply, bringing his pipe up to his lips. He chuckled, smoke fanning at Euro's face. "Happy birthday," he added.

Euro scowled, forgetting all about the potentially sappy moment. "My birthday was yesterday, old man!"

Now it was Gin's turn to scowl. He punched Euro on the side of his head, and he clutched it with a howl. "Ungrateful child! What did I say about calling me old man? Give me back the necklace, I've changed my mind. You're obviously not mature enough to take care of it."

"No way!" Euro shouted, scandalized. "It's mine now, so no give-sies back-sies!"

"Che." Gin scoffed, "Little squirt."

Euro promptly stuck his tongue out at the old man.

* * *

><p>"Oh?" Deena laughed lightly, her eyes crinkling at the sides, "You're going to find it, eh, Euro?"<p>

Euro nodded once, determinedly. "Yup! I'll find the journal one day. One day, I'll set sail for the seas and go to the New World, and then, once I find it, I'll know all about my dad. Plus," he continued grudgingly, "he never says it out loud, but I know that grandpa wants to know about him, too. Even though he told me it was a stupid dream when I told him. Since he's too old to go out to sea, I'll do it for him!"

Deena smiled. "I'm sure you'll find it someday, Euro."

Euro gave the brown-eyed woman a toothy grin, fiddling with the chain on his neck, and the key that was strung along it. "Arigatō, Deena-chan!"

Deena merely smiled. A man ordered a drink, and she went off to hand him his order. On her way back, she started to cough uncontrollably.

"Deena?" Euro asked worriedly.

Deena paused, her coughs slowly dwindling. A few men had gotten up to assist her, but she raised up one hand. "I'm okay, Euro." She said, finally. "I'm okay, everyone." She repeated. She smiled, but to Euro, it looked as if she was forcing herself to make the expression.

He noted with worry that the sides of her eyes didn't crinkle this time.

* * *

><p><strong>Three days later<strong>

"Gin!" Tennouji, a young woman of the village, barged in through the taverns doors, wringing her hands nervously.

Gin and Euro both simultaneously looked up, the former from behind the bar table and the latter from his place on the barstool. "Tennouji-san?" Gin questioned politely. "Is something wrong?"

"It's Deena." Tennouji started frantically, "She just suddenly collapsed at wouldn't wake up. She's at the clinic right now, the doctor is – " she was cut off as both grandfather and grandson were jarred into action, hurrying past Tennouji and out the door.

They ran to the clinic, but were not granted permission inside Deena's room, at least, not yet.

"I'm sorry, Gin-sama, Deena-san isn't ready for visitors yet." A nurse apologized, before going off to attend to another patient.

Euro was immensely worried. Was Deena okay? She had been coughing a lot the past few days, and she hadn't looked to good, but she had assured Euro she was fine. What if she was going to… he swallowed, hard. What if she was going to die? Why wouldn't the doctor let them in? He was family; not biological family, but he might as well be labelled Deena's son for all she's done for him.

"Grandpa?"

Gin looked up from lighting his pipe. "Eh?"

"Will Deena-chan be okay?"

Gin sighed, exhaling smoke. "I don't know."

Just then, the emergency light dimmed and the door opened. The doctor exited the room, taking off his gloves wearily. At once, both Gin and Euro stood.

"How is she, doctor?"

The doctor paused for a moment, taking off his mask. Then, he sighed heavily. "You two might want to make the best of your remaining time with Deena… The disease… it's incurable. I'm sorry." And he did look sorry, too, because Deena was well liked within the village, but Euro didn't care at the moment.

"No…" he whispered, stumbling back, "No, no, no," he moaned, his hands coming up to his head.

"Can we see her, doctor?" he vaguely heard Gin ask.

"Yes." The doctor replied.

And then, before he knew it, Euro was pushing Gin out of the way, running for the emergency room.

"_Deena-chan_!"

* * *

><p>Deena was pale. Far, far too pale in Euro's opinion. Her cheeks were devoid of its normal rosy colour, her lips were cracked, and the light in her warm brown eyes was slowly fading. Gin sat in a chair a few feet away from her bed, and Euro sat up close, both hands enclosed over Deena's left hand, blowing hot air onto her cool skin.<p>

"Deena-chan…" he murmured, absently, "don't die."

Deena chuckled, but had to stop halfway when her voice cracked, making Gin wince visibly. "I'm… fine, Euro." She managed to say, with some difficulty.

Euro shook his head, biting his lip and frowning in an effort of not to cry. Finally, after a long silence had passed, Gin spoke up. "How long?" Deena and Euro both looked up at the older man. "How long?" he repeated. Deena shook her head, not wanting to say in front of Euro. But Gin was persistent. "Deena…" he warned.

She sighed, resigned. "Two days."

Euro sucked in a sharp breath, eyes glazed over. "Two days?" he echoed in a whisper.

Two days. Two days until Deena's foretold death day.

Time was ticking, and there was nothing Euro could do about it.

* * *

><p>Euro sighed, his head rested sideways on his crossed hands, which lay comfortably on Deena's bed. Sadly, Deena wasn't allowed to move, or sing, or play or – do anything, really. Gin was at the tavern; without Deena to help out around the place, he had to work nearly the whole day – he was going to close up earlier than usual, however, because the villagers all understood the situation, and encouraged Gin to take the time to visit Deena.<p>

Meanwhile, Euro was forced to watch as, one day later, Deena was looking worse – which Euro didn't think was possible. Her eyes had sunken in and had dark circles under them, and anything she ate went right back up an hour later – she had to be fed by means of liquid food. It was hard, watching the woman he'd known since birth die slowly, getting weaker each passing minute, but he forced himself to stay, for Deena's sake.

"Ne, Deena-chan." Euro said idly, and Deena turned her head to look at the young boy fondly.

"What is it, Euro?" her voice was raspy and weak, and it hurt Euro to hear it.

"Do you really think I can find it? The journal?"

Deena pursed her dry lips thoughtfully. "…Yeah. I really think you can, Euro." She said, finally.

Euro's face lit up, "Really?"

"Really."

Euro contemplated this. "I'll have to be strong," he said matter-of-factly. "When I go to the New World, I mean." He frowned, deep in thought. Then he grinned happily as a thought occurred to him. "Deena," he whispered in excitement.

"Mmm?"

"It's a… what do you call it? Oh, yeah. It's a win-win situation!"

"What's a win-win situation?"

"Me! Getting strong, that is."

"How?" Deena was curious to know.

Euro rolled his eyes in child-like exasperation, and felt a swell of pride when Deena laughed lightly, just like she used to, her eyes crinkling at the sides. "If I'm strong, I can protect the village." He said, his tone confident. "If I'm strong, bandits and pirates will run far, far away from our village, and we'll never be in trouble again! Plus, once I go out to sea, I'll be strong enough to defeat all the bad guys and get the journal!"

Deena smiled. "I think that's a great idea, Euro."

The aforementioned boy grinned a toothy grin. "Arigatō, Deena-chan!"

* * *

><p>He didn't go to the funeral the next day.<p>

Instead, he had locked himself in his room, curled himself up in his bed, and had cried for all he was worth. She was gone.

_Gone forever._

He'd never hear her tinkling laugh ever again, or see the sides of her eyes crinkle whenever she did. Her once warm, kind brown eyes were now lifeless. She would never get to hold him again, reassure him when Gin seemed to not care, cheer him up when he was down, bake him a cake on his birthday…

_So this is what it's like to lose someone dear to you, _Euro had thought dully.

Later on, Euro, feeling incredibly guilty, had went to the graveyard to pay his respects at her tombstone.

Years passed. Euro kept his word and became strong. Pirates and mountain bandits hadn't seen it coming; they had always assumed that the strongest of their village was Gin, but when they had arrived to raid the blacksmiths store one day, they'd been introduced to the new and improved, Takayoshi Euro.

One day, a crew of pirates had docked near their village. Half an hour later, the pirates were sent on their way, stripped of their pride, and Euro showcased a brand new weapon, named _Same no Ha._

Soon, Euro found himself forgetting his dream and ambition; all he wanted to do was protect his people. They were still in the Great Age of Pirates, and stronger adversaries bearing the mythical powers of the fabled Fruit of the Devils were docking at their village more often.

He had no time to think, let alone do.

However, in the back of his mind, he still remembered the dream that Deena had been so supportive of. Someday, he still wanted to find it.

Someday, he _would _find it.

* * *

><p><strong>Present Day<strong>

"Euuurooooo."

In the back of his sleep-induced mind, Takayoshi Euro registered his captain's bored-out-of-her-mind tone of voice. Lazily, he slowly opened one, bright-blue eye.

A pair of startling violet eyes stared back at him.

"…Okāsan?" Euro murmured, still half-asleep.

Jackie tilted her head to the side, confused. "What did you call me?"

With a sharp shake of his head, Euro opened both eyes, now wide awake. "Ah-h…" he stuttered, "I was – I mean – I didn't – "

Jackie cut him off, laughing. "What were you dreaming about?" she asked curiously.

"Um…" Euro had to blink a few more times. Her eyes… They were the exact same shade as… Without another word, Euro reached for his necklace, taking the locket and unclasping the aforementioned object. The face of his mother looked up at him, smiling gently. He looked back up at Jackie, who was still looking at him quizzically. "Do you know why I agreed to join your crew?" he asked her, suddenly.

Jackie blinked. "Why?"

"Your eyes." He said simply. He held up the locket of her mother so his captain could see. "They're just like my mother's."

"That's why you agreed to join my crew?"

Euro nodded.

"Oh, well I'm glad you did." Jackie said with a grin. Then, "Why were you at the graveyard when I went to find you earlier today at the village?"

"Ah," Euro started, "I went to visit my mother, and someone else." He said.

Jackie nodded, deciding not to look into it anymore. "Euro," Jackie said next, "Gin told me you have a dream – like mine. What is it?"

Euro smiled, fiddling with the key on his locket. "There's something I have to find, out there in the New World."

"What do you have to find?"

Euro smirked. "It's actually quite a long story."

"We've got time," she said simply.

Euro chuckled, looking around him from his spot on the dinghy. The vast sea greeted him, waves lapping at the small boat. "About that… do you have any idea where we're going?"

"Nope!" the captain said cheerfully.

Euro sighed, shaking his head. What had he gotten himself into? "Then I might as well." He said, referring to the story Jackie was eager to hear.

He propped himself up on his elbow, contemplating on how he should tell the story. Finally, he began. "It all started nine years ago…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter… But, Euro's past was a pain to write, so yeah, here it is. Anyways, so this is the official end to the Katarina Arc! Next up, the Ichigo Arc.

- Posted on Saturday, December 31st, 2011


	5. Ichigo Arc Part One: The Girl Who Hates

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: The Girl Who Hates…<strong>

Poke.

Poke, poke.

Giggle.

Pokepokepokepokepo –

"_What do you want?" _Takayoshi Euro all but growled, bringing his arm up to shield his face from the oncoming assault of getting his face poked – and all for the amusement of his captain. "Jackie," he hissed, eyes still closed, "would you stop? I'm trying to get some sleep and you _know _I'm a – " he opened his eyes, "light… sleep… er." He finished lamely. "Um, hullo," he greeted the girl – who was definitely _not _Jackie – standing over him, at a loss for what to say. "Can I… er… help you?"

Said girl merely blinked. Her hair was a mousy brown and her eyes the same shade. She wore a pair of muddy overalls, a tattered white shirt and sneakers, and around her neck was a piece of string tied to a jar, which contained many shells, most likely from the beach. She looked around nine or ten years of age, and her big brown eyes looked down owlishly at the first mate. Then, after about a minute of staring at each other, (Euro won the one-sided staring contest, sporting a smug smile, though confused) the girl stood upright from her crouched position and pointed a little ways away. "Is that your captain?"

Euro raised his head a tad, looking in the direction of the unknown girl's pointer finger. "Yep." He responded simply, upon catching sight of Jackie, lying on the deck, face scrunched up rather disturbingly. "Who are you?" he asked next, getting to his feet. With a quick scan of his surroundings, he realized that their dinghy had washed up alongside a beach, stuck fast. The girl didn't respond. Then, another thing occurred to him. "Wait, how did you know we're pirates?" he asked her, "We don't have bounties nor do we have a Jolly Roger. Well, not yet, anyways."

The girl kept quiet, still staring at the knocked-out-cold Jackie. Then, she replied to both of Euro's questions. "I'm May. And you guys look like pirates." The last part was said simply, as if it were a fact of life.

"Oh." Euro paused, his mind still struggling to catch up with his current situation. "Well, May, I'm Takayoshi Euro, and the drooling girl over there is, unfortunately, my captain Jackie." He joked with a small chuckle. "If you don't mind me asking, where are we?"

"Ichigo Island," May responded solemnly, tucking some hair behind her ear. She scuffed her feet in the sand, raising up some dust. "We're one of the main fruit producers for East Blue; we grow mostly strawberries, though."

"Interesting," Euro replied, stretching a bit. "Well, I hope your island is comfortable with housing pirates, maybe for a day or two. We don't have a navigator, so all my captain and I are doing is sailing aimlessly along the seas. Hopefully we can find one soon, though; maybe there's even one here." He looked down at May, thoughtful as he went over some long term plans. Jackie certainly wasn't going to do it, so he, as first mate, might as well. "You wouldn't happen to know any good navigators around these parts, would you?"

May shook her head no. "We tolerate pirates here, mostly because we can't do anything about it." She added, in response to Euro's first comment.

"Well, it certainly seems that _you're_ okay with pirates, considering you're here talking to me and all." Euro remarked casually.

May shrugged. "You guys don't look like the normal kind of pirates I've seen before."

Euro chuckled, "Yeah, Jackie isn't exactly 'captain material', but she means well." He paused. "Do you think you could take us to your village? We promise not to pillage and burn down your houses," he joked weakly.

May stared at the taller man blankly, before shrugging again. "I guess."

Puzzled at the girl's calm and nonchalant behaviour, Euro raised an eyebrow, before deciding not to dwell on it and grinning at the younger girl. "Great! I'll wake Jackie up… er, if I can, that is." He jumped off the boat none-too-gracefully, kicking up some sand. He tried pushing the dinghy off the small beach, but it didn't budge. He frowned. Well, then. He held out a hand for May, who took it, and helped her off the small boat before jumping back on.

Walking around the barrel of apples, Euro crouched down next to Jackie. He paused, then, with a shrug, poked her face. Hey, it had worked for May, so why not? He studied his captain's face momentarily, chuckling at her open mouth and grotesque features. For some reason, whenever Jackie slept, her face contorted into a not-so-pretty picture. Plus, she snored. Loudly. "Oi, Jackie, wake up." He nudged her shoulder, hard, and smirked in satisfaction as Jackie began to stir. He stood, dusting invisible dirt off his pants and turning around to jump off the boat as Jackie slowly cracked open an eye.

"Whassamatter?" the raven-haired girl muttered, her face slowly morphing back to normal as she regained consciousness. Yawning, Jackie sat upright, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand. "Oh. Did I fall asleep during watch again?"

"Yes," Euro informed her flatly, "but forget that. The boat is stuck in the sand, and we've arrived at some island. Oh, and this is May." He introduced, jerking a thumb behind him.

Jackie blinked at May, who blinked right back. She stood, stretching and making a show of yawning rather loudly. Finally, the violet-eyed girl got off the boat, pausing to grab an apple from the barrel. She checked the place where wood met sand, and frowned. Hiking up a boot, she lay her foot on the front of the boat, and pushed. Nothing. "Huh," she said, taking a bite of fruit, "It's stuck."

Trying not to lose his patience, Euro rolled his eyes. "That's what I just told you," he informed her. "And don't be rude. At least acknowledge the girl." God, he felt like her mother. What was the world coming to?

Slowly, Jackie turned around, staring down at the young girl. "Hey squirt, do you know anyone strong around these parts?"

"Not really," May replied, not at all fazed, "but Faye-chan is a pretty good shot – well, when she's not tripping over her own two feet, that is."

Jackie's interests were piqued immediately. "A markswoman, huh?" the devious twinkle in her eye caused alarms to start ringing in Euro's head. "Could you take us to her, then?"

May frowned thoughtfully, before shaking her head. "No."

"No?"

"No."

"But why noooot?" Jackie nearly whined, starting to pout.

May shrugged. "Faye-chan doesn't like pirates." She said simply.

Jackie and Euro exchanged glances. A girl who hates pirates, eh? "Fine," Jackie finally said, finishing off her apple and chucking it into the sand, only to pick it back up sheepishly when Euro raised an eyebrow at her. She threw it into the boat instead, sticking out a tongue childishly as Euro. He rolled his eyes in turn. Jackie turned back to May. "But you can take us to the village, right?"

May nodded wordlessly, and, tucking the jar of shells under her armpit securely, led the duo towards a hiking trail.

"She's kind of… weird, don't ya think?" Jackie whispered to Euro, the two following the brown-haired girl through a clump of bushes.

"Shh. Not now." Euro responded, "She could hear us."

Jackie sighed. "Alright. But Euro, I wanna meet this Faye girl."

Euro nodded, knowing better than to try and change his captain's mind. "Sure, but first we have to look for a navigator, chef, or even a carpenter. Those are more important right now if we want to get to the Grand Line."

Jackie nodded thoughtfully, "True. Eating apples three times a day, not knowing where we're going, and being squished in a ridiculously small dingy is _not_ how I pictured sailing the seas."

Euro chuckled, silently agreeing. But he said no more, instead dragging his captain alongside him as she attempted to grab what looked like a mango from a tree, entirely fascinated. He looked around him nervously, picking up his pace.

Hopefully… Hopefully he wouldn't run in to any of _them _while he was here.

* * *

><p>"Calm down, Jackie!" Euro hissed, face beet red. The flush only became more pronounced when he saw even <em>May<em> crack a smile, albeit a small one, but a smile nonetheless.

Clutching her stomach to no avail, the raven-haired girl howled with laughter, attracting a few curious looks from the villagers nearby.

They had managed to arrive at the village relatively unscathed – well, sort of.

"I can't believe… that you – that you – that you – " Jackie spluttered, the only thing keeping her upright being the near murderous grip Euro had on her elbow, not that she noticed. No, she was laughing too hard to feel anything at the moment.

Euro sighed, willing his blush to fade away. It didn't listen. "Just spit it out, Jackie." He growled.

"_I can't believe that you're scared of butterflies_!" Jackie howled, before collapsing in a heap of laughter once more, Euro's grip on her elbow severed.

The blue-haired man rubbed a hand over his face, trying to ease the dull flush that had crept up on him earlier. "Grab a bullhorn, why don't you?" Euro muttered. Yes, it was true. The tall, intimidating Takayoshi Euro was scared of… butterflies.

Letting out a hassled breath, Euro grabbed Jackie by the waist and in one powerful swing, hefted her over his shoulder – where she continued to giggle every now and then, completely giddy. "Lead the way," he said to May, who nodded, glanced worriedly at Jackie, then started for the village, leading the two deeper into the place and attracting a few more stares, courtesy of one idiot captain.

Once Jackie had stopped laughing – mostly due to the fact that she had run out of breath and was feeling incredibly light-headed – May had led Euro to a modest inn, where he had rented out two rooms for one night. After bidding May goodbye, he entered his room, and set Jackie down.

The room was simple enough, with a single bed and bedside table, nothing fancy. The hot springs were out back, and meals were served at the restaurant downstairs.

He raised an eyebrow at the raven-haired girl. "Think you can stand now?" he drawled sarcastically.

Jackie sent him a half-hearted glare. "Yes," she muttered. "Is that girl gone?"

"If you mean May, then yeah, she left a while ago."

Jackie cleared her throat, settling on the edge of the bed diplomatically. "So," she started slowly, "butterflies, huh?" she sent him an indulgent smile which Euro didn't buy for one second.

He sighed, collapsing on the bed next to Jackie. "Yes," he huffed, "there's just something about them… their creepy antennae or something."

Jackie gave her first mate a mock pitied glance, to which he shook his head at. "Who would've guessed?" she started, "The strong, mysterious Euro – scared of butterflies." She shook her head. "This is who I get for a first mate. Such a disappointment."

Euro, playing along, scowled. "At least I don't have a crack-head captain."

"Hey!"

Laughing, Euro stood. "Come on, let's go search for that navigator, hmm?"

"Oh!" Jackie jumped up, "And that Faye girl!"

"Yeah, yeah."

At least she had forgotten about the butterfly thing.

"Oh, and by the way, I haven't forgotten about the butterfly thing."

Or… not.

* * *

><p>With narrowed eyes, the pink-haired young woman scowled at the two pirates from around the corner. Apparently, they were 'shopping' – ha! The girl snorted at the very thought. Yeah, right, 'stealing' was more like it. After all they <em>were<em> pirates. Thankfully, May had told her about the two – along with a bunch of other stuff on how they were nice, and not at all like normal pirates, but she hadn't really listened to the ten year old girl after a certain point and so only really heard 'pirates' and 'here'.

So, that was them, huh? The girl – Ginny or Jenny, she didn't really care – had black hair in a high pony-tail that probably reached mid-back when loose, as well as violet eyes. Her hair was in a plain white cap, and her clothes were nothing special… She zeroed in on her weapons. Hmm… At her hip were a pair of – something. She didn't really know what they were, but they looked dangerous nonetheless.

And the man. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought he was the captain – but May had set her straight on _that_ one an hours previous. He had blue hair and eyes, and hefted over his shoulder was one scary looking weapon.

The girl studied the two pirates some more, and – oh, was that stall selling…? No! Wait! She had to keep focused. Shifting her gaze from the food stand, the girl continued to study – wait. Where were they?

"Um…"

With a start, Faye jumped around, her hair swishing behind her as it followed the movement. The strangled sound she wanted to release got stuck in her throat as she stared, wide eyed, at the two pirates she had just been analysing. The raven-haired one had spoken, with the blue-haired man – Euro, she believed – flanking her right side.

She tried to keep calm. Really, she did. "Can I help you two?" Faye asked as suavely as possible, her left hand clutching her weapon to her side, and her right itching slowly towards her back. She stopped, however, when the blue-haired one caught the movement, locking eyes with her. Shoot, he was perceptive. Damn men.

Faye gazed nervously at the supposed captain, unsure as to what she – Jackie – would do. Would she end up like…? No, no, she daren't think it.

Swallowing hard, Faye braced herself for the pain.

"Are you that markswoman girl – Faye?"

Blinking stupidly, Faye stared open-mouthed at Jackie, who had just spoken. She recovered, and shook her head frantically. Maybe if they believed she wasn't who she was, they would go away! "Who is this 'Faye' you speak of?" she asked, scoffing, "I'm not 'Faye'. 'Faye' is not me!" Alright, maybe she was laying it on a little thick, but whatever worked.

Jackie shrugged. "Oh, okay." The raven-haired girl turned to walk away, much to Faye's delight and slight disbelief, when the blue-eyed man stopped the captain with a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure that's Faye, Jackie." He said, shooting another glance at her.

Damn men.

Jackie blinked. "Oh, really?" she glared at Faye, "You lied to me!" Faye gulped. Then, Jackie chuckled. "Not bad," she acknowledged. Confused, Faye said nothing.

"She had this complex where she changes her mood unbelievably fast," Euro told her... He was talking to her! And casually at that! The nerve!

Jackie scowled half-heartedly, digging her elbow into her first mate's gut. "And _he_," she started smugly, "is terrified of – mrrrph!" the last part was due to the fact that Euro had clamped a hand over Jackie's mouth.

Faye could only stare. These guys… Were they _really_ pirates?

Euro shot an indulgent smile Faye's way. "Sorry about her." He said, as Jackie squirmed in his hold, annoyed. "Now, you're Faye, correct? You have all the traits May told me of: pink hair, brown eyes… Shall I go on?"

Faye scowled, her mind quickly weighing all odds. Then suddenly, to Euro's surprise, Faye jumped backwards, putting as much space between her and the two pirates as possible. In one, fluid motion, her weapon was raised and a razor sharp arrow was placed in the bow's hold. "Don't come any closer." She warned, though her voice was shaky.

Euro held up his hands in surrender, an eyebrow raised. Jackie, now able to talk, frowned at Euro, not at all fazed by the weapon aimed at her throat. "Look what you did," she berated her first mate, "Now she thinks we're here to kill her, or something."

"Sorry," Euro mumbled, sounding anything but, and looking vaguely amused.

Faye's scowl deepened, her grip on her bow tightening. "What do you want with me?" she asked boldly, pulling the string closer to her mouth. If she angled it just right…

"We want you to join our crew!"

The statement alone startled Faye, and she quickly whipped to the side, her grip on the bow slackening. The arrow shot towards a wall, and stuck fast.

"Correction:_ she_ wants you to join; I want a navigator." Faye vaguely heard Euro mutter, sounding unconcerned towards the fact that an arrow had been remarkably close to skewering his captain.

"Shut _up_, Euro. I want this Faye girl as my Nakama." Jackie said determinedly, reaching up to slap her first mate on the back of his head. "Did you _see_ her shot earlier?"

Faye, meanwhile, had her head up in the clouds. They wanted _her_… as their crewmate? Her. Faye. The girl with no family, the girl with no real attributes going for her – other than her shot, of course, but even that was shaky at best! They wanted_ her_. Her heart was screaming at her to say yes, yes, a million times yes – but something stopped her. With a heavy heart, she thought of Akane.

" – Hello? Helloooo?"

With a start, Faye realized that Jackie was trying to get her attention, waving her hands in her face. She took a step back. Faye opened her mouth to say – wait, what had Jackie said?

'_Did you _see_ her shot earlier?'_

She blinked. Yep, that was exactly what the raven-haired girl had said, back when she was berating Euro. "What do you mean? When you said you saw my shot earlier? You weren't… Spying on my practice, were you?" she asked cautiously.

Jackie nodded with a toothy smile. "Yeah, May finally gave us directions to the place you usually go to train. And boy, you're pretty good! That's why we want you to join our crew."

"Correction: _you_ want her to join." Euro muttered.

_Traitor May, _Faye thought fleetingly. She reached behind her, taking hold of another arrow and placing it securely in her bow. "Sorry," she spoke up, causing both pirates to look at her, one expectant, the other neutral. "but I don't join _pirates._" She sneered, trying to sound as disgusted as possible. When Euro's eye raised, she broke the act and pleaded, "Please don't hurt me!"

…

"Okay." Jackie said, a small frown on her face. "C'mon, Euro."

Both Euro and Faye turned to look at Jackie, surprised. "Wow," Euro muttered, "you weren't half as easy on_ me _back when you tried to get me to join your crew."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Urusai; she obviously doesn't want to join: _you_ on the other hand, practically begged for it." She retorted smugly.

Euro scoffed. "And I _clearly_ made the wrong choice," he teased. Then, he mock saluted to Faye. "Well, see ya."

"If you ever change your mind, come find us!" Jackie added, still looking not-so-happy at letting a potential crewmate go.

"Or not," Euro added, "Unless you're a skilled navigator."

And as the two walked away, Faye scowled at Euro's retreating back, slightly disbelieving as to what had just occurred.

Damn men.

* * *

><p>On the other side of the village, May stared wide-eyed at the person looming over him, her cheek stinging and red.<p>

"Kids. Pah! I hate kids," the man snarled, adjusting his cloak. He snapped his fingers, "You!" he pointed at one of his men, before gesturing to his shoes, "clean them."

"Y-yes sir!" the lowly man responded nervously, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket and bending down to shine his now dirt-covered shoes, courtesy of the very careless kid before the scary man.

The man glared once more at May, who let out a small whimper in fear. "Take her with us." He told another one of his subjects.

"But s-sir, she's just a kid, and – "

"I _said," _the man roared, "take her with us!"

"Y-yes sir!" one man scurried forward, taking hold of May's shirt. "Sorry, kid." He whispered for her ears only. May sniffled, but said nothing.

The clear leader of the group laughed contently, kicking aside the man who was shining his shoes carelessly. "Let's go, boys!" With that command said, the rest of the men stumbled after the first, May in tow, jogging to keep up with his faster pace.

The sun shone down harshly on the group, and the insignia of the marines was unmistakeable. The captain stared down smugly at the villagers looking up at him in slight fear, and fixed his coat with a smirk.

Little did he know, two certain pirates were also on the island, unawares to his arrival.

May shrunk herself smaller, trying to make herself invisible.

_Faye, Jackie, Euro… Save me!_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Hi. Nothing to say here, besides thanks for reading.

- Posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2012


	6. Part Two: Rescued!

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. One Piece isn't mine.

Please refer to the Author's Note at the end of this chapter after you finish reading! It's semi-important and is for those who sent in OC's for me recently!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: Rescued!<strong>

Jackie sighed, stretching her limbs in what space the busy village provided. Open stalls greeted both captain and first mate from left to right, shouting out prices in hopes of receiving customers.

"Jackie," Euro, her first mate, started slowly, "you didn't really let Faye go, did you," he stated, one eyebrow raised.

Jackie sent the blue-haired man a cheeky smile. "You know me too well," she laughed, "Of course I didn't let her go!"

"Then what are you… planning?" Euro's tone of voice was cautious – and he had full reason to be, too, considering the circumstances.

The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes to the heavens. "Just… I'm giving her some time to think it over. Maybe see that we're not so bad after all."

Euro nodded, almost on autopilot. "Whatever you want, but really, let's try focusing on getting us a navigator, aye?"

"Whatever you want," Jackie mimicked teasingly, before getting distracted by a stall selling shiny masks. Shiny masks!

Euro sighed in exasperation. "Jackie," he started, warning in his tone.

"Hmm?" Jackie looked up casually, and, upon seeing his face, rolled her eyes. "Alright, how about this: you and I separate for say, about an hour, and we meet up here when time is up?"

Euro grimaced. "Sure. Just… if you get lost – "

" – Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine." Jackie waved him off, and Euro shrugged indifferently, coolly turning to walk the other way, _Same no Ha_ hefted over his shoulder. Well, he'd tried…

He turned a corner, blue eyes on the lookout. "Let's see…" Euro muttered to himself absently, "We need a navigator for sure, and a new boat, so a shipwright would be nice. So would a cook, actually… We can't keep living off apples and my cooking for long."

As the blue-haired man mused this, he got distracted by a stall selling ramen, and his eyes lit up. He opened his hand, where a fistful of beli notes lay in his palm, money he had gotten from Jackie just before they had confronted Faye, the markswoman.

He made to walk over to the stall, where the owner was ladling hot soup into a bowl, when a huge body blustered into his field of vision. Whaa…?

"You!" the hulking mass of body started in a demanding voice, "Come with me!" with furrowed brows, Euro realised that the large woman was talking to _him._

"I… Excuse me?" Taken aback, Euro stepped sideways and studied the person who had so inelegantly blundered in between him and his much needed lunch. The woman looked to be in her forties, with a short, black bowl shaped haircut, round glasses that framed black eyes, and a rather large nose. She wore an apron over her plain white shirt and light brown trousers, and was rather… big.

The woman gave him a grim sort of smile, baring her teeth, and promptly grabbed Euro by the wrist, dragging him whichever way. "You! You're late, young man!" she scolded, still taking the bewildered first mate far, _far_ away from the ramen stand. "I'm late for work, no thanks to you!"

Completely and utterly baffled, Euro could only stare and dumbly follow along as the woman stopped in front of a quaint little house, with the roof painted blue and the door blood-red. Finally, he recovered, ripping his wrist away from the death's hold she had on him. "What are you talking about, bowl-cut? Why did you take me away from my lunch?"

The black-eyed woman turned to face him with a scowl on her face, squinting her eyes at Euro, almost as if she couldn't clearly see him. "Such disrespect!" she scolded, "Anyways, the kids are all inside, and I'll be back in an hour. Don't let Ichi or Ni get near the paint, San's allergy list is on the fridge, Shi, Go, and Roku are all grounded, so they can't go to the village, Nana and Hachi will be back from the market shortly, Ku needs to take his medication in five minutes, and don't let Ju bungee jump off the roof. And I don't know where the last one is; she's probably at the beach somewhere, so you don't have to worry about her. Got it? Good."

And with that, the mother of – apparently – eleven, pushed the blue-haired man through the door, and shut the blood red entryway closed with a loud _bang!_

Euro raised an eyebrow, mind still catching up on what had just happened. Suddenly, a hand touched his leg, and he looked down to see a little baby boy in blue footie pajamas, his black eyes peering up at the blue-haired man in curiosity. Slowly, as if still unsure, Euro bent down and picked up the boy, before straightening and looking around the cozy little house.

From his position at the door, he could see a small living room to his left, a dining table with twelve chairs a little further in, and a kitchen attached to the dining room. To his right, stairs spiraled upwards, to where the first mate presumed held all the bedrooms, as well as bathrooms.

No one was around, other than the baby boy he was currently holding, and all was... kind of quiet, actually.

But of course, it could only last for so long.

A scream echoed throughout the house, and a loud thundering sound was heard. Soon enough, four figures could be seen from the top of the stairs, with one yelling shrilly at the top of her lungs.

"Ju! Give – it – back!" The black haired girl – from what Euro could tell – shrieked to a boy who looked considerably older than her.

"Then give me back my baby Den Den Mushi, Roku!" the boy – Ju, Euro reminded himself – retaliated. The other two – boys, also black haired – just yelled as loud as they could, apparently trying to drown out the older siblings voices by making their own noise.

A young girl casually ambled out of the kitchen, sucking on her thumb, looking up at Euro with glossed over black eyes. Once she caught sight of the blue-haired man, however, she started to cry, sobbing uncontrollably. A slightly older young boy wearing circular glasses followed the girl, chewing on what appeared to be a cookie. He stared at all the commotion blankly, then shrugged and disappeared back into the kitchen once again. And to top it all off, at the top of the stairs, a baby boy peeked over the railing from the very top of the stairs, looking down owlishly – before losing his balance and tumbling over the spiral staircase, headed straight for a conveniently placed bucket of yellow paint below.

Euro's eye ticked savagely.

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

><p>Jackie blew a strand of hair from her eyes, and took a huge bite of fried rice – courtesy of the chef from the restaurant she had entered not too long ago. She chewed in contentment. Apples and Euro's food just didn't do this place justice, although she really couldn't complain. The raven-haired girl prepared to take another bite of rice, blowing on the steaming food as a precaution, when she heard a loud noise come from just outside the restaurant. She craned her neck, and caught a glimpse of white – and shrugged. Whatever it was, she wasn't a part of it. The noise eventually faded, and peace was restored as Jackie took another heavenly bite.<p>

"This is so good," she commented around a mouthful of rice, giving the waitress before her the thumbs up sign.

The green-eyed girl smiled politely, thanking Jackie before hurrying off to serve another customer.

_BA-A-ANG!_

With a start, Jackie turned her head again, just in time to see a flurry of pink, the curve of a bow, and then two large, brown eyes blinking nervously at the captain.

"I am so glad I've found you," Faye stated, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes wild. The aforementioned girl collapsed in a seat next to Jackie, trying to catch her breath.

Jackie could only swallow her rice. She looked over the harried markswoman, getting a better look at her; the first time the two had met, she had mostly been focused on getting the girl to join her crew and not on what she looked like.

Faye had pink hair – not a grotesque dark pink shade, but a nice, normal colour – and large brown eyes. She wore simple shorts and a black, sleeveless hoodie over a brown tank top, and sandals. Slung around her back were about a dozen or so arrows in its quiver, and clutched in her hand was a sleek ebony bow about as long as her arm.

Then Jackie realized that Faye was still sitting there, and mumbled out an unintelligible, "Huh?"

Faye, upon realizing what she had said, flushed a darker shade. "I – don't get me wrong," she warned, "I don't want to join your crew."

"Oh." With a disappointed sigh, Jackie stuck her spoon in her mouth again. "Then, what do you want?" she asked, not unkindly.

Faye hesitated. "Well – you see – I mean – oh, why did I even come here in the first place?" she asked, mostly to herself, "I mean, it isn't as if you're actually going to help me save May – I'll just leave now." The markswoman got up to leave, but Jackie furrowed her brows, grabbing hold of Faye by the elbow just in time.

"Wait, something happened to this May girl?"

The pink-haired girl paused. Then, she cautiously sat down again. "Um… Yeah. You see, there's this marine, Captain 'Chalk' White." She snuck a glance at Jackie, who gestured for her to continue. "He's this evil marine that comes to check up on the island every other month or so, and sometimes he likes to harass the villagers, even going so far as to kidnap children."

"So this White character took that May girl," Jackie stated. Surprised, Faye nodded wordlessly. Jackie frowned. "Well, that's not good. Euro actually likes the girl. But then again, it's really none of my business…"

Faye blinked, feeling her cheeks heat up. Of course. Why would she even expect a _pirate_ to help her? It was ridiculous, and she knew it.

"_However,_" Jackie continued, causing Faye to look up, "This 'Chalk' dude sounds interesting. And I know Euro wouldn't like it if I left May alone. So what, you want me to beat him up or something?"

Faye stared, open mouthed. Was she… going to help her? Before Jackie could change her mind, Faye shook her head earnestly. "Well, not beat him up, exactly… If possible, it would be best if we somehow snuck May away, without White's knowledge."

Jackie nodded wisely. "Yes… So, we beat him up."

Faye sweat dropped. "Um… Sure…"

Jackie grinned. "Then, what are we waiting for? I want to meet this Chalk dude."

* * *

><p>"Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, Go, Roku, Ku, and Ju, am I right?" Euro asked, all in one breath.<p>

Wide eyed, all eight children nodded wordlessly, even the babies.

They were in the living room, cramped in the small space. The kids were – for the most part – silent, mostly due to Euro's intimidating self. In one arm, Ichi, the baby boy in blue footie pajamas stared up at Euro silently, and in the other arm, Ni, the other young toddler in _green_ pajamas, who had nearly fallen in a bucket of paint – thank goodness Euro had fast reflexes – sucked on his thumb without comment.

"So," Euro drawled, not at all bothered by the somewhat frightened looks he was receiving, "Let me guess. You all are as old as your names suggest, am I right?"

Again, more nods to confirm the statement.

Euro rolled his eyes. How creative. Ichi was one year old, then, and Ni two, San three, and so on and so forth.

"Alright," he began briskly, "Ku?" Euro called on the nine year old male, who open and closed his mouth repeatedly in response, "You need to take your medication." The blue-haired man instructed.

Ku nodded, standing to head over to the kitchen to take his pills. Next, Euro turned on Ju, the oldest child at ten years of age, as his name suggested. "Ju, please show me where all paint cans are, so I can get rid of them. We don't want any more accidents concerning Ichi and Ni, now do we?"

Ju nodded rapidly, standing and beckoning Euro to follow, who set the boy's in his arms down, and soon went after the eldest child. "Don't do anything rash," the blue-eyed man warned the rest of the children, causing them all to gulp.

After he had gone, Ichi and Ni crawled off to who knows where, San went to go find Ku, who was in the kitchen taking his medication, and Shi, Go and Roku put their heads together – and promptly started to scream.

"What am I doing here?" Euro muttered to himself, picking up paint cans – there were a _lot_ of paint cans – and following Ju to various places within the home.

"There, that's the last one," Ju announced sometime later. Euro sighed, reaching for the nearest window and tossing all the paint out on to the grass with a shrug.

"Well then… See ya, kid." Euro saluted the ten year old, heading for the door. Ju blinked, then shrugged and went upstairs. As Euro opened the red entrance, he stepped back, surprised, as two more children walked casually in, holding bags of groceries in their arms. "Nana and Hachi?" Euro guessed.

The two, a girl and boy with black hair and eyes, like all the other children in the household, nodded, seemingly unfazed to see Euro standing there. If their namesake was also correct, then that would make Nana seven and Hachi eight. Wordlessly, they tossed the groceries whichever way, and with a start, Euro hurried to catch them all.

Hachi wore circular shaped glasses, just like his mother, and he squinted at Euro. "Hey, Yamano." He greeted.

Euro furrowed his brows. Yamano…? "Um – " he opened his mouth, intending to inform the kid that he was more certainly _not_ this Yamano guy, when both brother and sister merely walked away without another word. Huh.

Sighing, Euro surveyed the house, and all the children in it. His head hurt from the screaming, and Ichi and Ni were nowhere to be found. Resigned, he started for the kitchen to put the groceries away. When bowl-cut came back – in an hour, like she'd said – Euro was going to give her a piece of his mind. But for now… Duty called.

"_Ju! Give it back!"_

Unfortunately.

* * *

><p>"That's him, over there," Faye commented in a whisper, beckoning for Jackie to follow her. She slunk down the alleyway, peeking around the corner, where White was berating a vendor for leaving a puppy out in his way.<p>

Jackie, instead of following Faye's lead of acting in secret, merely walked around the corner and into the open. "Where?" she asked, and rather loudly at that.

Faye shushed her. "The guy with the brown hair and blue eyes." She hissed, "Now come back here!"

Jackie reluctantly complied, laughing. "Ha! That guy?" she laughed some more.

"Yes, him. Why?" Faye asked, curiously. She thought that Captain White looked rather… intimidating. With medium length brown hair, tall, sturdy and broad build, towering at well over six feet, and piercing blue eyes that were too far apart, Faye could say that he was very intimidating indeed. He also wore a standard issue white marine cloak overtop a black shirt that stretched over his broad chest, and black trousers. In his hand was a very scary looking nodachi, out of its sheath and gleaming in the sunlight.

Jackie, in answer to Faye's question, chuckled, "His name is White, and yet his hair is _brown._ Get it?"

Faye stared at the raven-haired girl, perplexed. "No, actually… I don't."

Jackie shrugged, ceasing her laughter. "Ah, well. Anyways, I just have to defeat him, right?"

"No," Faye contradicted, "We have to get May back. You just have to distract him." She looked around the corner again, where May was hanging by the back of her shirt, a marine holding her in the no doubt uncomfortable position.

"Right," Jackie said, nodding confidently.

Faye shook her head, "Jackie, I don't think you understand how _powerful_ White is… There are rumors that he uses his nodachi to slit his opponent's throats, and watch as all the blood drains from their body, turning them a chalky colour. That's where he gets his name 'Chalk' White."

Peering over the corner, Jackie was silent for a few moments. Then, she shrugged. "Well, if I defeat him, then I'll know if I'm strong enough." She said simply.

"Strong enough for… what?" Faye asked, this time genuinely curious. The way she had said it, kind of reminded her of her _own_ dream…

"To go to the Grand Line, of course," Jackie replied with a grin, "Didn't I tell you? I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

Faye blinked, uncertain as to what to say. Then, she caught a hold of herself and jumped as if shocked. "Are you serious? That's crazy, Jackie!"

Jackie scrunched up her face unpleasantly. "Your face is crazy," she retorted.

"That didn't even make any sense."

"Your face doesn't make any sense."

"You – ah, never mind," Faye shook her head with a sigh. "Let's just… get in there, get May, and get out, alright?" she turned around to – "Jackie? Jackie!"

"Hey, you, Chalk dude! I'll be taking May back, thank you very much."

Horrified, Faye slowly turned back around, eyes bulging out of her head as she spied Jackie in the obvious path of White, arms crossed defiantly. "No! Jackie!" she hissed, hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand. Oh, what had she gotten herself into?

White raised an eyebrow, as if uncertain as to whom exactly Jackie was referring to. "Excuse me?" he asked slowly.

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Not you, too. The other girl – what was her name? Oh, yeah, Hina – couldn't listen too well either."

Eyes flashing, White raised his nodachi threateningly. "Care to repeat that?"

"Wow, I think you're even worse than _she_ was."

Faye cursed quietly to herself. She might as well use the distraction to get May.

Raising her bow and knocking an arrow in its string, Faye pulled, aimed, and released – bingo! The man holding May went down with a grunt, clutching his side, an arrowhead sprouting from the wound. Not many aside from his immediate surroundings noticed, and they hurried to help their fallen comrade, May lying forgotten at their feet.

Quickly, Faye ducked into the buzz of commotion as Jackie defiantly resisted White's intimidating means, and grabbed hold of May, who was starting to stand. "Come, on!" she whispered urgently. Together, the two escaped from the confines of marines, and blended in with the curious villagers, relatively unnoticed.

"You really don't know who I am, do you?" White was asking, temper flaring.

"Is that a trick question?" Jackie's voice responded, "Because I didn't know you until five minutes ago, so I'm not too sure where I stand."

"Oh, I'll tell you where you stand – "

"Hide," Faye hissed in May's ear, who nodded once, muted in fear, before disappearing into the crowd. Then, in a rush of bravery and – most likely – stupidity, Faye ran up to Jackie, taking her by the elbow.

"Oh, sister Nina!" Faye tittered, exasperation in her tone, "What are you doing out of bed? The doctor _told_ you that one of the medicine's side effects include hallucinations and incoherent babbling!" she faked a sigh, looking over at White with – real – fear in her eyes, "I'm so sorry, Captain White!" she squeaked, "My sister, Nina, just took her medication, and so has no idea what she's saying!"

"What? Faye, what are you – " Jackie started, only to be cut off by Faye once more.

"Oh, hush, sis! You need to get to bed!" she turned to White, "Sorry again, sir!" and as fast as she could, Faye forcefully pulled the raven-haired girl by the elbow, using all her strength and ignoring Jackie's incredulous stuttering.

They hurried around the corner, but only until they reached an entirely new street did Faye stop to breathe a sigh of relief. "That was a… close one."

At least they were safe.

"What was that, Faye! I'm Jackie, _Jackie_, not this 'Nina' girl!"

For now, at any rate.

* * *

><p>Captain 'Chalk' White stared after the two retreating figures with narrowed eyes. Sister? Medication? Pah! Likely story. He snapped his fingers, beckoning a marine soldier forward. "Ensign," he told the higher-up man, "find out where those two are – in secret. After they settle down, come find me."<p>

"Yes, s-sir!" the ensign saluted, before hurrying off in the direction of the two girls.

White tapped his nodachi thoughtfully against the gravel. "Who… was that girl?" he murmured to himself. His temper flared again just as the mere thought of the violet-eyed young woman, and with a disgusted 'pah!', the captain pivoted on his heel and stalked away, his crew stumbling quickly after him.

He_ would_ find Violet-Eyes again, if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

I have big plans for the OC's submitted in to me. Thanks to you all, even if I didn't personally reply back to your review. I will be using all submitted characters that have been sent in to me since day one.

Anonymous Replies:

_Trafalgar Riley: _So I reallllyyyy hope you read this, because I have some things to say on your character, Ellen Riley! No, there's nothing wrong with her, but I must inform you that a few of your character's traits are the same as some of my own characters, so I must take said trait away from Riley when she appears in this story, if that's okay with you. Such traits include dislike of butterflies (Euro), and the book smart yet street dumb trait (you'll see!).

_Nanako7: _You're probably the same person as the person who submitted Ellen Riley, but just in case you aren't, I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. Your character, Lambchop… IS AMAZING! I love it sososo much, and have many ideas formulating in my head. I can't wait until he appears in this story!

- Posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012


	7. Part Three: Welcome Aboard!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven: Welcome Aboard!<strong>

Euro lunged forward, his chest hitting the cold tile floor, arms extended. With a soft thud, Ichi fell into the blue-haired man's arms, giggling. Sighing, he stood, placing the one year old on the couch.

"Hey! Shut up!" he roared, glaring at the screaming Shi, Go and Roku menacingly. They ran off laughing, mischievous grins on their faces.

Euro rubbed his face for a moment, blocking out all sound. He'd been at the quaint little house with all ten children for about half an hour, now – and he couldn't wait until his time was up and he could forget all about his period with the 'little devils', as he called them.

Unfortunately, he was stuck with them for a while more.

_SPLA-A-AT!_

Euro froze, cringing at the sudden cold feel of paint coating the back of his neck and shoulders. Turning around slowly, he groaned at the sight of Ni peeking out of a bucket of red paint that he had – evidently – missed. With a heavy sigh, the first mate swiped the two year old out of the can, and jogged up the stairs and into the bathroom, where he deposited Ni into a bathtub full of pristine, crystal clear water. He then reached over to tug off his shirt, throwing the blue wife beater carelessly into the hamper.

Euro crossed him arms as he surveyed Ni splash in the shallow waters, the clear liquid bleeding red. "You know," he started casually, "you lot are a real handful. I pity your mum, though I'm still going to beat her up when she gets back."

Ni merely blew a raspberry at the older man, who sighed. Great. Now he was talking to a little toddler who probably had no idea what he was saying. Was he going to start conversing with fish next, too?

Euro turned around slowly, facing the mirror. Hm. He really needed to work out more. Sure, he was in fairly decent shape, but what with him headed to the Grand Line – and, after that, the New World – and all, he reckoned that he start pulling himself together and training big time.

Then, he took a step forward – was that a blemish on his nose? – and promptly slipped on a puddle of water. "Arrgh!" yelling in frustration, Euro fell backwards into the red, murky water, scarcely missing the two year old, who was laughing and pointing.

Great. Just great.

Picking himself up again, Euro shook his head, droplets of water sliding down his person. Rubbing his face with his hand tiredly, Euro prepared to undo the buttons to his pants – but stopped as Roku popped her head inside the doorway.

The six year old giggled at Euro's lack of a shirt.

Euro paused. Blinked. "Um… Roku? Could you, ah… Go see how Ju is doing?"

Roku giggled again, and shook her head.

Huh.

Rolling his eyes, Euro trudged along, taking Ni with him. He hurriedly dressed the toddler, before sending him on his way. Euro eyed Roku, who had followed him during the whole process. "Hey, Roku," he started, "do you have any spare clothing? Like, something of your dads?"

Roku blinked, cocking her head to the side. "... Dad is never home," she said, finally, somewhat sadly. "He took all his stuff with him."

Euro felt a tug on his heartstrings, sympathetic for the little girl and the rest of her brothers and sisters. He knew how it felt to have no father. But then, he remembered that he was half naked and sopping wet, and sighed in irritation. "Fine," he replied, "then, is there anything of your mom's?"

Roku's eyes lit up, and she laughed, nodding eagerly. "Yeah! Be right back!" and with that, she disappeared into a nearby room, only to re-emerge again, holding a bright… pink… blouse? With an inward groan, Euro noted that the edges had ruffles on them.

Not to mention that in her other hand, Roku held a blue denim _skirt._

Well… at least it would fit him. Judging by bowl-cut's figure, he'd dare say it might even be a tad large on him…

Cheeks pink and flaming, Euro reluctantly took the offending articles of clothing from the black-eyed girl, eyeing them distastefully.

God _forbid_ Jackie see him now.

* * *

><p>"You know," Jackie started in a matter of fact tone, arms crossed, "I could've beaten him. You didn't have to drag me away."<p>

Faye scowled at the raven-haired young woman, her stance just as defensive. "Listen here, White is really strong. And besides, fighting him would just cause unnecessary trouble."

Jackie frowned, though she couldn't really argue. "Fine." She relented. Then, "Where's May?"

"Oh, I told her to hide. Knowing her, she'll be at the beach." Faye mused thoughtfully.

Jackie nodded, "Alright then, let's find May, bring her to safety, find Euro, then leave." She paused. "Aw, man, we don't even have a proper boat!"

Choosing to ignore the last statement and the slight twinge of guilt Faye felt towards the violet-eyed girl – after all, she _had_ dragged her into the whole May-capture-thing – the markswoman instead beckoned for Jackie to follow. "Come on, I'll take you to the beach."

As Faye led Jackie to the edge of the village, where she, Euro and May had entered from just an hours' previous, the captain found herself talking – and sensibly at that. "So, Faye… I heard from May that you uh, hate pirates," Jackie started slowly. Faye tensed, but Jackie stubbornly stood firm.

Finally, after reaching the start of the trail that would take them to the beach, Faye replied, albeit so quietly Jackie had to strain her ears to listen. "My mother… and my sister were both killed… by, well, pirates." She started softly, "I never knew my mother; she had been murdered shortly after I was born, leaving Akane – my sister – to take care of me. Emily, May's mother, offered us a home, but Akane refused. She singlehandedly took care of me all these years, and when I turned twelve, another band of pirates came and took her away from me." She shrugged. "That's pretty much it; but ever since then, I've always been untrusting towards any pirates that come to this area."

After the tale was done, the two young women followed the trail in companionable silence.

"I'm sorry." Jackie replied simply, a while later.

Faye glanced at her and, upon deciding that the captain was serious, nodded shortly. "You're not like them, you know," she said, surprising them both. "You and… the other guy seem okay."

Jackie grinned. "Thanks!" then, she paused. "I might be wrong, but… You seem to hate, or at least, immensely dislike, Euro. Why?" she asked, curiously.

Again, Faye turned to regard Jackie, surprised. Who knew the raven-haired girl was so observant? "I don't hate Euro," Faye replied, "I just don't trust guys in general. My father ran out on my mother when she was pregnant with me, and my grandfather disowned my mother, at least, that's what Akane told me." She shrugged. "I guess I just haven't met a guy who has proven my stereotypical mind wrong. Well, Euro's alright, I suppose." She added as an afterthought.

Jackie laughed. "Well, he _is_ my first mate, after all…" She frowned thoughtfully. "Which reminds me. I wonder what he's doing right now,"

* * *

><p>"<em>Ju!" <em>Roku hollered, piercing Euro's ear drum. He winced, then cringed as Ju entered the room, looking smug and holding up a doll.

Roku's doll.

This wasn't going to end well.

"Give – me – back – Molly!" Roku screeched, lunging for the ten year old, who danced just out of reach.

"I told you, if you want your doll back, give _me_ back my baby Den Den Mushi!" the black haired boy retaliated.

Euro sighed, deciding to step in as Roku had starting to turn red in the face. Just as both siblings lunged for each other, Euro caught Roku around the middle, heaving her over his shoulder, and strategically stuck out his foot, causing Ju to fall flat on his face.

"Ow!" Ju cried, sitting cross legged and clutching his nose, one eye closed as a tear slipped out. He glared at the blue-haired man. "Euro!"

Euro did his best to look innocent. "Yeeeees?"

"You – oh, never mind… Ow…"

Euro chuckled. It seemed like he was getting the hang of this babysitting thing. Easy. No sweat. Maybe. Sort of. Not really.

It was dang exhausting!

Placing Roku down and prodding her in the direction of the kitchen, Euro tugged at the collar of his frilly shirt irritably. Then, he adjusted his mini skirt. The thing was too damn _short_ for his liking.

He felt… completely and utterly deprived of his manliness. He felt like a girl. Like an _okama._

Just then, the door was tapped lightly on three times in quick succession. At the sound, all ten kids –_ all_ of them – started to scream.

Loudly.

Ouch.

But, wait! Euro strode over to the door faster than lightning, forgetting all about his embarrassing attire. Bowl-cut was back, she had to be! Yanking open the door, Euro snarled, "Bowl-cut, what the hell is the meaning of all this, huh? Taking me to this hell hole of a home – "

Euro blinked.

Jackie, Faye, and a sniffling May blinked right back.

Wait, _Jackie?_

Cursing to himself, Euro opened his mouth to say something, _anything,_ to break the awkwardness between them. Something smooth, suave… "You're not bowl-cut." Anything but that.

But at least it had worked. Well… sort of.

First, she giggled. Then, she started chuckling, and soon enough, Jackie was full out laughing, clutching her sides in hilarity.

Euro's eye ticked savagely.

Soon enough, Faye followed, as did May, who hiccupped and laughed at the same time. The kids inside had no idea what was going on, but laughed anyways.

Darn.

Euro sighed, letting go of the door and leaning against the window frame, face beet red as everyone laughed at his state of dress. He frowned as he waited, and still no one seemed to be thinking of stopping anytime soon. He rolled his eyes.

This was going to take a while.

* * *

><p>"So wait," Euro said, interrupting Jackie's explanation of what had happened in the past hour or so. "May, you're these guy's sister?" he asked incredulously, sweeping an arm across the room to where Ichi, Ni, and the rest sat – for once – quietly.<p>

May nodded, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Okāsan took me in when I was just a baby. I'm their adopted sister."

Euro sat back, a little bewildered. Huh. What a coincidence. Then, he gestured for Jackie to continue. "So, about this White guy…"

Jackie nodded, "Right, so as I was saying, Faye dragged me away just when I was getting all riled up! But she took me elsewhere, we found May on the beach, and came back here… And found you in… that." She laughed, gesturing to the embarrassing skirt and blouse, which Euro had gotten rid of quickly. He wore his now dry pants, and had cleaned his blue wife beater.

Euro nodded, all caught up. "Then, we should hurry up and leave, before White finds us. Bowl-cut should be here soon."

Jackie nodded, albeit a little reluctantly. "What about our boat?" she reminded her first mate. "We stocked up on food earlier, but we don't have a navigator yet, either, so it's back to sailing aimlessly across the sea for us." She sighed forlornly.

Euro frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose we could use the dinghy once more, at least until we get a new crewmate." He paused, eyeing Jackie shrewdly. "We _are_ getting more crewmates, right?"

Jackie rolled her eyes in exasperation. "_Yes,_ Euro, we are. I asked Faye to join us, didn't I?"

Uncomfortable, Faye kept her eyes trained on the floor, clutching her bow. She was saved from commenting, however, as the door swung open rather loudly just then.

In stepped bowl-cut, otherwise known as Emily.

"_Bowl-cut!" _Euro jumped to his feet, pointing furiously at the black-haired woman.

Raising her head, Emily blinked, apparently surprised at the company. She took off her apron, still staring dumbly and squinting through her glasses. Then, her eyes lit up. "Oh! Faye! What are you doing here? What a pleasant surprise!"

Faye, smiling politely, nodded. "Emily-chan." She addressed, "We were just leaving. May will explain the whole situation to you; she might be in considerable danger."

Emily nodded, a little confused but trusting. "Alright…" she reached into her pocket and turned to Euro, holding out a few crumpled beli's. "Here, Yamano. Thanks for babysitting the kids," she said.

Euro's eye ticked and he stubbornly left the money in her palm. "I'm not this Yamano guy, and I'm not the babysitter!"

Emily blinked. Taking off her glasses, she wiped them clean, before putting them back on. She jumped back, surprised. "You're not Yamano! Who are you?" she asked.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Euro exclaimed, "Thanks to you, I've had to take care of ten crazy kids for an hour!"

…

"Do you still want your money?"

"No! You don't understand!"

Jackie stood, laughing. She put a hand on her first mate's shoulder. "Give it a rest, Euro. Let's just go, aye?"

Grumbling, the blue-haired man took the bills from Emily's hands rather childishly, if only to make a point. Faye and May stood as well.

"Okāsan, I'll go with them and then come back, okay?" May asked Emily, looking towards her adoptive mother for confirmation.

"Oh, no," Faye warned, "you stay here, May. If White comes and sees us, then it won't be wise for you to come."

May frowned. Then, resigned, she turned to Euro and Jackie. "Thank you for saving me," she told Jackie quietly.

Jackie chuckled. "No problem; Euro would have killed me if I didn't."

Euro smirked. "Damn right I would've." He regarded May with a smile. "See ya around, kiddo. You know, you kind of remind me of this woman I knew from my past; what with the brown hair and eyes." _Deena…_

May was curious. "Really?"

"Really."

The three, Jackie, Euro and Faye exited the house. Euro was more than happy to be out of the grasp of the devil kids, and swung _Same no Ha _freely, now that he was outside. As they walked along the path, he swung, and swung, and…

"Oof!"

Oh… Looking to his right, Euro realised that he had hit a young man in the gut, and had sent him sprawling. Faye glared at him, "Way to go, Euro… wait." She blinked. "Jackie, that's a marine!"

Sure enough, a marine in a white jacket reading 'Justice' on the back was doubled over, clutching his stomach and glaring at Euro, too busy coughing to say anything. An ensign…

Wide eyed, Faye said, "He must've been tailing us. Thank god he didn't find out where Emily lives, or they would have been in considerable danger. Euro, beat him up and let's go! We've got to get you out of here!"

Euro complied with a shrug, using the butt of his weapon to knock the marine unconscious in one effective blow. Jackie snickered quietly.

Then, looking both ways for any sign of White, the three carefully made their way to the village.

It was time they left.

* * *

><p>"<em>RUN!"<em>

Euro and Jackie followed after Faye, right behind her. Euro had _Same no Ha_ swung over his shoulder, Faye was clutching her bow with her quiver slung around her back, and Jackie had her _Kazekaki'_s out and ready.

The marines were chasing after them, yelling out warnings and calls, but the three made no attempt to stop.

They were perfectly fine with _not _being put in jail, thank you very much.

If asked, Jackie would deny having anything to do with attracting the marines to her – but in actuality, she had, a few minutes previous, _oh so casually _stopped by a restaurant to get some more fried rice – which just so happened to be the restaurant White had settled in.

Hence, the chasing.

"Stop in the name of justice!" one marine called.

"Wow, they regard justice pretty highly, don't they?" Jackie muttered, still running.

Faye rolled her eyes and called over her shoulder, "Come on! We're almost at the edge of the village! From there, we can get you two to the beach and escape!"

"Violet-Eyes!" White called from behind them furiously.

Jackie wrinkled her nose. "Violet-Eyes? What?"

"Just run, Jackie, run!"

And so, they ran.

* * *

><p>"Quick! To the boat!" Jackie called behind her.<p>

Luckily, they had managed to evade the marines and White, and were at the beach.

On her way to the measly dinghy, Jackie spotted an old fishing boat; with two sleeping quarters and a kitchen, from the looks of it. It was also bigger than the dinghy that Jackie was currently running past, ignoring the cries of 'wait!' and 'it's right here!' from behind her.

"Euro," she called over, "let's take this one."

Euro jogged over, and with a huff, so did Faye. He grinned and nodded at the sight of the better fishing boat. "Definitely. Let's move our stuff."

And with that, they got to work, keeping an eye out for marines.

Once they were done loading all their belongings to their new craft, Jackie clapped her hands in satisfaction and Euro boarded the boat, getting ready to set sail.

Faye stood to the side awkwardly, scuffing her feet in the sand. "So… I… It was nice meeting you guys," Faye finally got out, determinedly keeping her eyes on the ground, "I'll never forget you all…"

"What are you talking about?"

The voice came from Jackie, who was on the craft now, leaning on the side. Faye frowned. "Well, aren't you going to say something to me, too? I mean, we've been through quite a lot, and – "

"Just get on here already!" Jackie said cheerfully.

Startled, Faye looked up, locking eyes with Jackie. "What…?"

"Hey! They're over here!"

The three turned their heads to see a few marines entering the beach, slowly trickling in. Gunshots filled the air.

"Come on!" Jackie held out a hand, reaching for Faye. "We're Nakama now, aren't we?" as Faye opened her mouth, Jackie rolled her eyes and cut her off, "Besides, you said we're different from other pirates. So, why not!"

The gunshots and shouts were getting louder.

Jackie's hand extended a little further.

Faye was torn. Should she go? She really wanted to, and yet, they were pirates. _Akane… What should I do? _

_Stay? Or…_

"Don't you have a dream to fulfill?"

_Go?_

Startled, Faye's head shot up. A dream…?

Her _dream._

Resolved, Faye grinned widely and grabbed hold of Jackie's hand, who hauled her up with ease onto the boat.

Euro saluted Faye. "Glad to have you on board, Faye." He said, "Hope you're a deep sleeper, though, Jackie snores like a train."

"Hey!"

Faye giggled, smiling softly to herself as they started to slowly drift away. Euro grabbed his weapon and deflected a few bullets, and by the time White arrived to the scene, they were a mere speck in the horizon.

_Maybe… Maybe now I can finally fulfill my dreams… _Faye thought, as she looked back on her home island.

_Together, with my Nakama._

* * *

><p>White cursed to himself, throwing his nodachi on the sand in frustration. He growled, glaring off to the distance. "I'll find you, Violet-Eyes," he promised to himself, "I'll find you if I have to crawl to the ends of the seas to do so." He turned back around. "Men! Call everyone to the vessel. We're setting sail after them."<p>

"Aye, aye, sir!"

* * *

><p><strong>Crew Members<strong>

**Jackie** - 17 years, Captain

**Takayoshi Euro** - 19 years, First Mate

**Faye** - 16 years, Markswoman (Archer)

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Sorry! I know, I know, this chapter is really bad. At least, I think so. But I really wanted to get Faye on the crew, and then start the next part of the story where they get their next crewmate. Also, you should bookmark White and Emily's husband (May's adoptive father) for future purposes! But anyways, this marks the end of the Ichigo Arc! Next arc? The Izamura arc!

- Posted Saturday, January 14th, 2012


	8. Izamura Arc Part One: Introducing

**Disclaimer:** I, sadly, don't own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Introducing…<strong>

Faye leaned against the side of the fishing boat, the wind blowing her hair whichever way. The sun was setting, they were a fair distance away from her home island, and she was currently on watch.

As she watched the sunset, Faye had some time to think about Akane, and the choice she had made to become a pirate and join her now-captain's crew. Sure, Jackie and Euro were different, but was she really ready to face the open seas, and eventually fulfill her dream? Was she really ready to become a pirate?

"Hey."

Turning at the sound of the voice, Faye saw Jackie emerge from the girl's quarters, stretching with a yawn. The captain sleepily opened one eye, and shot a feeble grin Faye's way.

Faye nodded back with a small smile of her own. "Hey."

Jackie leaned against the boat, facing Faye. "So, how does it feel to be an honorary pirate?"

"Honestly? Like I'm meant to be here." Faye confessed, "I keep telling myself I shouldn't be feeling this way, but I do."

Jackie grinned, rubbing at her arms to keep herself warm. "So…" she started slowly, thinking of how to ask the question that had been bugging her for a while. She decided to just plough right in. "you have a dream, huh?"

Faye nodded after a second's hesitation. "Yeah. I want to get stronger, so never again do I have to see someone I love, die. I also want to see all the ten Yumiya of the seas. They're these ten special bows that exist in this world, rumored to have been handed down for generations since the Void Century." She explained, getting excited as she told of the Yumiya to Jackie.

Jackie nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds cool," she commented.

"Yeah…" Faye stood upright, stretching. "Well, I'm going to get some shut eye. Make sure you don't fall asleep during watch," she teased.

Jackie rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I won't."

Faye entered the girl's room, which basically consisted of two chests for clothing and belongings pushed up against the wall, and two hammocks, side by side. And even those measly possessions took up the whole room, as the boat wasn't so big. But, it would do for now, at any rate.

Faye used a piece of string to tie her mid-length hair back, climbing into her hammock. As she lay down on her back, facing the ceiling, she felt her eyes get heavier, and she yawned.

"I'll get stronger, Akane," she whispered into the empty room, "I'll get stronger, and when I do, I'll be able to protect my Nakama and find the ten Yumiya."

And with that statement lingering in the air, Faye fell asleep, feeling safer that she had in years.

* * *

><p>"Land ho!" Faye called excitedly a few days later, calling for her crewmates and clutching a pair of binoculars in her hand.<p>

Jackie and Euro emerged from the kitchen, the former with a mug of coffee in her hand, half-asleep, and the latter munching on an apple.

"Land?" Euro questioned, squinting his eyes out to sea. All he could see was blue, and he held his hand out for the binoculars.

Faye handed them to him, nodding. "Yeah. And if the map we found on the boat is correct, we should be docking at Izamura Island, which is notorious for hosting cooking contests and has a large variety of stores."

Jackie yawned. "It's a good thing you know basic navigation, Faye," she commented.

"We still need a navigator though," Euro persisted, once he'd used the binoculars.

Faye rolled her eyes, ignoring his statement. "I can also do some clothes shopping here, as I didn't bring any with me from my home Island," she explained to Jackie.

Jackie's eyes lit up. "Maybe we can find a chef there, too!"

"Or a navigator," Euro stressed.

Jackie and Faye laughed, shaking their heads.

"What? It's a logical request," Euro muttered.

* * *

><p>The pirate crew of a measly three exchanged grins at the sight of Izamura island up close and personal.<p>

Stalls flanked each side, barely leaving room for any walking, with prices being called out, the seller's voices ringing throughout the air.

Jackie grinned and got out her pouch of beli's, handing a few crumpled bills to Faye. "You can go clothes shopping, and Euro and I will head to the cooking competition. You can join us later, sound good?"

Faye nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'll see you two later; don't cause too much trouble while I'm gone, and _do not _attract any marines attention. With a tourist trap island like this, there are bound to be a marine captain or two." She warned.

Euro rolled his eyes, one hand behind his head and the other balancing _Same no Ha _over his shoulder. "Yes, mother," he replied sarcastically, and, with a parting glare from Faye, the captain and first mate went over to a random stall selling weapons to ask for directions to the cooking arena.

Well, for _Jackie _to ask for directions; Euro was too much of a _man _to do so.

"Why can't you just ask?" Jackie wondered, trying – and failing – to stifle her laughter.

"Because," Euro replied, "a man like _me_ doesn't _ask_ for directions. It's unmanly."

Jackie rolled her eyes, chuckling, "Says the_ man_ who's scared of butterflies."

Euro felt a flush creep up his neck. "Urusai!" he hissed in embarrassment. "Just ask, will you?"

Still laughing, Jackie walked up to the counter, and grinned lazily at the old man polishing a katana. "Hey, ossan, could you direct _us,_" she put emphasis on the 'us', shooting an amused look at Euro, "to the cooking arena, please?"

After receiving directions, Jackie thanked the man, and the two set off to find the place where the cooking contest would take place; it was to start in about thirty minutes or so.

As they arrived at the cooking arena, Jackie noted that the contestants were already up on stage and setting up their working areas.

The place was grand, with many chairs set up before the stage; a square shaped platform with many separate cooking stations. Off to the side, a baby Den Den Mushi was attached to multiple wires, no doubt leading to various speakers along the sidelines.

A certain man rigging up his station stuck to Jackie in particular, as did a young woman.

The man looked to be in his early twenties or so, and had a lean, if not somewhat lanky, frame. He had short, tousled black hair and black eyes hidden behind a pair of dark, rounded glasses that he was constantly pushing back up with the back of his fingers. He wore the standard issue chef attire, save for the apron and hat, and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He wore a pair of black pants, and was holding a pan in his hand, looking cool and calculated with his mouth in a neutral line.

The woman had her stall set up next to him, and she too wore the standard chef clothing, except she wore all the requirements, not a hair out of place. Her eyes were sea-green, and her hair a wispy blonde colour that ended at her shoulders. Her smirk was confident as she unloaded her supplies.

Euro appeared to have been attracted to the same people. He nudged her. "Hey, check out those two over there,"

Jackie nodded. "I know. They look good."

She soon noticed that curious tourists were trickling into the plaza, and the announcer and judges had already arrived, with the former at front holding the baby Den Den Mushi, and the judges sitting at a table off to the side.

"Let's get some seats," Euro suggested, and the two made their way to the front, saving an extra seat for Faye.

"Weeeeelcome, ladies and gents, fishmen and mermaids, and kids of all ages," the announcer started with a wink, "Thank you for coming to the Annual Izamura Cooking Contest!" here, polite clapping ensued. "Now, let's introduce our contestants, shall we?"

The announcer, Damon as he introduced himself, had long blonde curls, blue eyes and a winning smile, and he went to the closest stall to him, first.

Jackie and Euro sort of zoned out, until Damon got to the girl they had been studying. "Oh, and what might your name be, miss?" he asked the blonde, who gave a small smile.

"Coutori Isabella," she introduced herself politely.

Then, Damon went to the glasses-man. "And who might you be, good sir?" he asked jovially.

The man pushed up his glasses with the back of his pointer finger, looking lazily at the crowd. "Nakamura Kyuuga." He said shortly, before turning to set up his station once more. Damon sweat dropped at his coldness, before recovering and flashing a blinding white smile.

"Great to meet you! Now…" as he went on introducing contestants, Euro leaned over and whispered in Jackie's ear,

"The Kyuuga guy's pretty distant. Maybe we can get Isabella on our crew?"

"…Maybe," Jackie replied noncommittally, eyes trained on both chefs.

Euro sat back in his chair, a little confused at Jackie's lack of response. But he shrugged it off as Damon returned to his small podium area.

"Now! Each contestant will create a full course meal; appetizer, entrée, salad, cheese, and dessert. The theme is Formal French. All ingredients are provided. You will have to create three portions of each course, for the three judges." Here, Damon gestured to the judge table, where two men and a woman waved at the crowd.

Damon smiled charmingly. "First, contestants shall create both the appetizer and entrée courses. Then, there will be a brief break, followed by the salad, cheese, and dessert courses." He stepped to the side, talking to the contestants, now. "You have one hour. And… go!"

And with that, the chefs started in preparing their appetizers.

* * *

><p>"Hey, what did I miss?" Faye whispered, arms laden down with shopping bags.<p>

Euro blinked at the sight of all the bags full of clothes, and raised an eyebrow. "How did you get all _that_ with the money Jackie gave you?"

Faye grinned, "I'm a pretty good bargainer." She took her seat next to Euro, and set her bags down next to her, ignoring the slightly annoyed looks she received from the people around her. "So anyways, what's happening? You see any potential future crewmates?"

Euro grinned. "They're making a formal French cuisine. Times almost up for the first half of the contest. And look over there," he nodded towards Isabella, "She's Isabella. She looks pretty competent; I think she would be good in our crew."

Faye contemplated this. She noticed that all of the contestants were girls… except for one guy. "Who's he?"

"Oh. That's Kyuuga. He seems like a pretty cold guy, though." Euro responded.

Faye frowned. "I think he should join our crew," she stated firmly.

"What, why?" Euro asked, "I bet Isabella's going to win, making her the better cook."

"But she's a _girl,_" Faye stressed, "Why do guys always think that girls belong in the kitchen? It's sexist and degrading. I think that guy should join us; he shows that guys can be chefs, too."

Euro rolled his eyes. "That's stupid. Isabella is clearly the better chef, which means we should ask _her_ to join our crew."

"It is not stupid!" Faye's voice was steadily rising, "It's true and you know it!"

"Shhhhh!" the crowd hissed at the two, but they didn't listen.

"Jackie, what do you think?" Euro asked his captain, "Kyuuga, or Isabella?"

"Hn." Jackie responded noncommittally, eyes glued to the stage.

"Fine," Euro rolled his eyes, "How about this, Faye; whoever wins should join our crew."

"Deal," Faye agreed, just when Damon put the baby Den Den Mushi to his lips.

"Alright! It seems like time is up! Drop everything; we're about to start the first half of the taste testing!"

Each contestant presented an appetizer and entrée. Unsurprisingly, given the theme, the first four all had some type of Hors D'Oeuvres, ranging from deviled eggs to caviar.

Then, it was Isabella's turn to present her first two courses. For her appetizer, she presented Consommé Olga, a type of soup using beef broth. Then, for her entrée, she had Sirloin of Beef with Chateau Potatoes, as she dubbed them.

The taste testing seemed to go over well with the judges, and then it was Kyuuga's turn. He told the judges that he would be presenting Escargot (cooked snails), and Parmentier with Boiled New Potatoes, whatever that was.

As the judges tasted the meal, they began to converse in low tones, so as to determine the winner of the first round and calculate point averages.

"Alright!" Damon announced a few minutes later, "Now, we present the winner…" he was handed a manila envelope, which he opened. "The following people have to go home…" as he listed off various people, with the losers walking off the stage, heads hung in shame. "And now, we have our final contestants," Damon said, "The winner of this round is… Nakamura Kyuuga!"

Faye shot Euro a smug look as cheers erupted around them. Kyuuga merely nodded, acknowledging the praise.

"Congratulations, Kyuuga! But it's not over yet! The next round will begin in thirty minutes, so make sure to come back in time for the second half of the Annual Izamura Cooking Contest!" Damon said jovially.

The crowd began to slowly trickle out of the area, leaving only Jackie, Euro, Faye, and a few of the chefs behind.

Euro nudged Jackie lightly, who had been oddly quiet for the entire show. "Hey, Jackie, let's go see the cooks, ne?"

Jackie's eyes lit up at the prospect, and she grinned, back to her normal self. "Sure!" she replied, and the three made their way up the stage. As Euro and Faye began arguing about who should join once again, Jackie kept her eyes out. Kyuuga was leaving his place, so Euro dragged Jackie and Faye to Isabella.

"Hey," Faye started, causing Isabella to look up in mild surprise. "I'm Faye, this is Euro, and that's my captain, Jackie."

"I'm Isabella…" the green-eyed woman started slowly, "And… You guys are pirates?"

"Well, yeah, but we're not here to harm you or anything," Euro replied with a shrug. "We just wanted to ask you a question."

"Shoot."

"What would you say if we asked you to join our crew? _Hypothetically."_ Faye added, stressing the last part. Euro shot a look at her, which she replied with a saccharine smile.

Isabella shrugged at the question. "I'm not really looking for a crew to join, but _hypothetically,_ I might join one if I was asked."

Jackie raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Ha! That was easy."

"Wait, wait!" Faye protested, "We still haven't seen the Kyuuga guy, yet."

Euro rolled his eyes. "We don't need to; Isabella is good, and good is enough for me."

Jackie frowned. "Hey! _I'm_ the captain here; I think I get to choose,"

"Kyuuga!" Faye insisted.

"Isabella!" Euro retorted.

"Kyuuga!"

"Isabella!"

As the trio argued on the matter, no one noticed as Isabella slowly slipped away from the scene, sweat dropping.

_What a weird bunch…_

* * *

><p>"Aaaand now! For the second half of the cooking competition!" Damon said, around thirty minutes later. The chairs were full once again, and all chefs were back in their stations.<p>

"Kyuuga," Faye hissed.

"Isabella," Euro retaliated.

The two were still at it, and Jackie was once again oddly quiet.

"Alright," Damon started, "for this round, contestants will have to create the salad, cheese and dessert part of our full course meal! You have one hour," he informed the chefs, "and now… go!"

And they were off again. Jackie stared, transfixed, as Isabella and Kyuuga began making their salads. Their motions were fluid, almost as if they were taking part in a dance. Their movements flowed, smoothly, agilely.

Even Faye and Euro stopped to stare.

An hour later, Damon blew the whistle, indicating for them to stop.

Isabella presented Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette as the salad. As for the cheese platter, the array of cheeses included Carr Valley Cheese's Mobay, Sweet Grass Dairy's Sevenwood, and Cypress Grove Chevre's Purple Haze (according to her; Jackie had no idea what was going on). And finally, for her dessert course, Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly.

Kyuuga then showcased his Spinach Apple Salad. Afterwards, his cheese platter included Torta Ambrose, Bleu de Sassanges, and Grayson. Once again, Jackie, Euro and Faye were at a loss, as they didn't even know so many types of cheeses existed. For his dessert, he presented Chocolate and Vanilla Éclairs. The last two contestants had their courses tasted, and soon enough the judges were handing Damon another manila envelope.

Faye and Euro held their breaths in anticipation, whilst Jackie sat back in her seat, eyes narrowed on a certain blonde cook.

"And the winner is…" Damon started, building up suspense, _"Coutori Isabella!"_

Euro jumped up to his feet, cheering along with the others. He grinned good naturedly at Faye, who shook her head, chuckling.

It looked like Isabella would be approached _very_ soon.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Faye waved at the green-eyed girl, smiling in a welcoming manner.<p>

"Oh, hi." Isabella replied, smiling hesitantly.

"Congrats," Euro commented.

"Thanks," Isabella held up her trophy and prize money, "So, what brings you here?"

"Oh," Faye started, sounding a little less enthusiastic now. "Well, remember about our _hypothetical _question? Well, now that you've won, our captain has something to ask you," she smiled, not unkindly.

Isabella blinked, sending Jackie a nervous smile, who had her head cocked, studying Isabella. "I… can I help you, Jackie?"

Jackie blinked. "Jackie," Euro nudged his captain. "What's wrong?" his mind told him that Jackie had something on her mind – something important, too.

"Get Kyuuga." Jackie requested shortly.

"What?"

"Get. Kyuuga." She repeated.

"But, Jackie…" Faye furrowed her brows. "Isabella won. Aren't you going to ask her…?"

"She cheated." Jackie stated simply.

"_What?" _Euro and Faye shouted in unison.

Isabella paled. "What are you talking about?" she demanded angrily. "I won this fair and square!"

Jackie narrowed her eyes, and without another word, stalked off to Kyuuga's stand, where he was packing up silently. "You."

Kyuuga looked up, not at all surprised to see Jackie standing there. He pushed up his glasses with the back of his finger, regarding Jackie coolly. "Me."

"Come."

With a shrug, Kyuuga stuck his hands in his pockets, following Jackie to where Isabella was being held captive by Euro and Faye.

"You know, don't you," Jackie stated, turning to Kyuuga. "You knew that she traded your salt condiments for sugar."

Kyuuga shrugged, his glasses glinting. He smirked. "Yeah, I knew." He said. "But it's just a contest. There are plenty more." His eyes flashed. "I won't degrade myself to petty tactics."

"So… she cheated?" Faye asked, regarding Isabella with an expression akin to disgust. Then she smiled triumphantly. "Ha!" he told Euro simply, who smirked ruefully.

"Let go of me," Isabella hissed, trying to yank her arm from Euro's grip. "Fine, I cheated." She stated, "But I needed the money. Just let – me – go!"

With a roll of his eyes, Euro released Isabella sharply. He turned to Kyuuga, and they watched as she quickly scurried away, holding her head high. "Hey, I'm Takayoshi Euro," he introduced himself after she had gone.

Kyuuga's glasses glinted. "Nakamura Kyuuga." He said.

"I'm Faye," Faye added.

Kyuuga shrugged, nodding in greeting. "Listen, I've got to go." He said, "Thanks for exposing Isabella, I suppose."

"Hey! Wait!" Jackie called. Kyuuga turned around, eyebrow raised. "You wanna join my crew?" she asked eagerly.

Euro and Faye exchanged looks, and shrugged. Whatever worked…

"No." Kyuuga responded.

What?

"What? Why not?" Jackie pouted. "We need a cook on our crew, and you're really good!"

Kyuuga shrugged. "I don't want to." He said simply. "It's so… troublesome."

And with that, he waked away, holding up a hand in farewell.

"Huh." Euro said. "That was…"

"Awkward." Faye finished.

Jackie turned around, facing her crewmates with a grin on her face. "Isn't he cool?" she asked them, starry eyed. "He has got to join us!"

Euro groaned, sharing a look with Faye.

"Here we go again."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Kyuuga _kind of_ looks like captain Kuro, from when Luffy got Usopp into his crew. Except his hair is black and tousled (not slicked back… ugh), his glasses are a darker shade, he picks up his glasses differently, and he looks cooler and wears different clothes… Not to mention, his weapon/ability has not yet been revealed…

- Posted on Sunday, January 15th, 2012


	9. Part Two: Meet the Capricorn Pirates

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Oh, and I'm really excited for this chapter, for an OC submitted to me by _Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin_ will finally make an appearance!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine: Meet the Capricorn Pirates<strong>

A lone figure stood silently on the raised expanse of land, looking down upon the village below, and its ant sized inhabitants that could barely be seen from her elevated position. The wind ruffled her hair to the side, the ends brushing against her shoulders. Sharp eyes caught movement to her left, and with one last, deep breath of the crisp, clean air, not polluted unlike the metropolitan like area in which she was born and raised, the girl turned around with one hand rested lightly on her katana, which was tied to her hip.

The sixteen year old girl smiled at her half-sister and first mate, Molly O'Flannigan. "Yes, Molly?" she inquired, staring at a point near the sandy expanse of land, below where she and her sister were currently standing. The Hyperion, her ship, was stationed next to a rocky, cove like area, underneath the shade of a curved inland slab of rock.

Molly brushed her black, chin-length hair from her eyes, turning her head to stare fondly at the ship and its inhabitants; her crewmates and practical family. Her Nakama. "Heathcliffe is overjoyed at the fact that Holden and Soren have joined the Capricorns." She told her captain and sister with a small smile that reached her blue eyes, with a genuine happiness that most people were unused to seeing incorporated with pirates, as they were indeed so.

The captain nodded, smiling softly to herself. "Yes, it's nice to see the brothers reunited again after all this time," she remarked.

The two stood silently after that, soaking up the sun's rays and merely enjoying the companionship and unusual quiet that was almost never present aboard the ever festive Hyperion, what with all their many crewmates on board.

"Yuki-Rin, let's go! Yulia overheard a pair of villagers talking about the annual cooking show that they host every year, and it sounds so cool!" a boy, with somewhat spiky black hair and eyes crept up behind the two sisters, taking the last few steps up to the elevated expanse of grass covered land. He was holding on to a scythe in one hand, and wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead with the other.

Molly shook her head, a faint grin creeping in to her features. "Izamura Island is notorious for its multiple cooking contests and shopping districts, Heathcliffe," she told her crewmate, one of the many musicians on their crew. "So it would be logical for a cooking show to take place every once in a while."

Yuki-Rin, captain of the Capricorn Pirates, chuckled. "I think the cooking contest is over, actually," she informed the two, "I can see the plaza from here; it seems like everyone is packing up and leaving."

Heathcliffe groaned in despair, staring forlornly in the direction of the village. "Matsu and Kartik are lucky," he told them, "they left earlier for supplies, and they probably had time to stop by and check it out."

Yuki-Rin blinked in surprise. "And Karin didn't follow after them?"

"Well, she did, actually. You _know_ the girl's unhealthy obsession with our shipwright. I only saw Kartik and Matsu leave together; but I'm almost certain that Karin had followed them shortly after." Heathcliffe responded with a mischievous grin. "But you know her; she's probably going to be too busy in the swimwear stores to watch a cooking contest."

"True," the captain conceded knowingly, nodding her head. Apparently, she wasn't all too fazed by this piece of information. "Well, call the others, why don't you? Let's go explore this new island," she ordered him with a playful smile.

Heathcliffe grinned boyishly, giving his captain a two-finger salute. "Aye, aye, captain!"

* * *

><p>"I'm feeling a strange sense of déjà vu," Euro told his crewmates as he watched Kyuuga calmly walk away, "Faye?"<p>

The pink-haired girl nodded in agreement, a peculiar expression on her face. "Yep," she said, "I'm feeling it too. Did you turn down Jackie before she used her persuasive black magic on you, as well?"

Euro grinned at that. "Yeah. I told her I didn't want to go, right? So in response, she places all my stuff in her boat and drags me down to the harbour. Of course, I resisted, at least, until my whole village came to see me off." He sighed, shaking his head, "Sometimes I still ask myself why I made such a reckless decision," he joked lightly.

Jackie hit her first mate on the back of his head absently, stars still in her eyes as she began thinking of all the possibilities of having such a _cool _cook as a mate on her crew.

He seemed so calm, and collected… Plus, he seemed a decent chef for her crew. But there was also something… something in his eyes. Jackie remembered seeing such an expression on Euro and Faye when talking of their pasts. Not to mention, sometimes, when she looked into the occasional mirror, she still saw the exact same look in herself, no matter how hard she tried to forget about _that_ day… She wondered, staring at Kyuuga's back, what things that man had seen, and maybe even _done._

She felt a nudge to her side and blinked, looking up at Euro. He raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

Jackie smiled, nodding. Sometimes, it seemed that Euro really did know her best; at least, compared to Faye, and even her own grandmother back at her home island. Perhaps what many had said about there not being a closer bond than that of a captain and his first mate, was true.

Euro furrowed his brows slightly, seeing through his captain's façade. However, he dropped the matter and turned back to Faye, so as to give the violet-eyed girl some time to herself. He knew that she would tell him when she was ready, and not a moment sooner.

A few minutes later, after some prodding from Faye, the three made their way to the main road, where the tourist traps were set up. Vendors left and right shouted out offers, and Jackie and Euro had to physically restrain Faye from spending any more money. The multiple bags that the three were holding were already overflowing in their arms, even when putting aside the fact that Euro had _Same no Ha_ and Faye her bow.

Faye looked around with a frown, disappointed to the fact that she couldn't buy any more things. "Oh, come on, Jackie, just one more – ack!" the last part was due to the fact that Faye had tripped over her own two feet, and would have landed face first had it not have been for Euro's fast reflexes. Faye flushed, entangling herself from the first mate's grip sheepishly. "Thanks." She said.

Jackie regarded her crewmate, amused. "Were you always such a… klutz?"

Faye laughed nervously. "Actually… Yes." She admitted. "You remember the few times you saw me take down a marine or two? Well, honestly, I was kind of surprised at myself. It's not that I'm a bad shot, but it's just that I'm really clumsy."

"What about when we saw you practice back then?" Euro asked, looking more than a bit entertained.

"Oh, that was when I was just standing there, shooting. If I move, I'll trip… Hehe…" Faye rubbed the back of her head guiltily. "Did I forget to mention that?"

Jackie laughed, but made no further comment, much to Faye's relief. "Let's go eat," she suggested, and Euro and Faye agreed wholeheartedly. The three were rather starving, what with having to sit through a whole cooking contest with nothing to eat, the heavenly smells wafting towards them the whole time…

The small group quickly found a restaurant on the edge of the road, and entered eagerly.

"Ossan!" Jackie called out, "Table for three, please!"

* * *

><p>Kartik Abington turned to face his childhood friend, Matsu Takeshima, arms laden down with groceries for the chef of the pirate crew he belonged to, Sebastian, and map making supplies for the navigator, Hana. "Look over here," he told his female companion, nodding his head of purple hair towards a cart full of the latest carpenter gimmicks and gadgets.<p>

He was, after all, the shipwright of the Capricorn Pirates.

Matsu, tailor of the ship, shuffled closer, arms also laden down with many bags. She smiled at what had Kartik's undivided attention. "Why don't you get one?" she suggested, "We have some leftover money."

Kartik hesitated, and Matsu, after knowing him for so long, could practically see the gears turning in his head, weighing all pros and cons. After a while, he sighed, shaking his head. "Nah, it's not worth it." Evidently wanting to get away from the tempting contraptions just lying there, waiting for someone to buy them, he turned with a sharp jerk, stepping back and bumping into another body. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Kartik apologized, turning around fully. He faced the man, who was surprisingly familiar. "You're the chef who was in the annual contest, weren't you? Kyuuga, right?"

The glasses-wearing man shrugged, stepping back. "It's alright. And yeah, that was me." He made to leave, but was bumped into once again by another body, this time a woman's. Kyuuga was relatively unscathed, what with his build, but he was albeit a tad surprised to see the orange-haired woman nonchalantly get back up again and brush past him, completely unfazed.

"Kartik, look at what I bought!" the eccentric, blue-eyed woman exclaimed, holding up a two-piece, fire-engine-red bikini. She playfully batted her eyes, deliberately brushing against the sophisticated-looking man. "What do you think?" she asked him, holding the swimwear against her own form, which was clad in a rather short, low-cut black dress.

Said man sighed, as if he was used to the attention the blue-eyed woman was bestowing upon him. "Karin," he started, "You just bumped into Mister Kyuuga without so much as an apology, over there."

The woman – apparently named Karin – , who was wearing oval-shaped glasses, blinked behind the frames. She glanced at Kyuuga in passing, before her eyes lit up in recognition. "Hey, I know you! You're that chef from the cooking contest! You should come by our ship, The Hyperion! I'm sure Yuki-Rin would love to have another guest, and that Sebastian would like to trade cooking tips with you and such." She said quickly, getting used to the idea, "What do you say?"

Kyuuga blinked, a little taken aback. First a captain had come to ask him to join her crew, and now this? "I don't think that's a very good – " he started, about to turn the young woman down in the most polite way possible, when Karin interrupted him again.

"Come on, let's go!" and with that, she took Kyuuga by the arm, and started to drag him away. Kartik and Matsu exchanged similar looks of exasperation, quite used to their fellow crewmate's antics. Laden down with bags, the two childhood friends followed Karin and Kyuuga, albeit a tad reluctantly.

As Kyuuga was dragged around by the woman, too polite to refuse her point blank, he blinked at her forcefulness, then sighed.

_How troublesome…_

He'd better get a free meal out of this.

* * *

><p>"Dis ish sho gud," Jackie said, her voice muffled by the ramen currently making its way down her throat.<p>

Euro regarded his captain with a confused look. "What?"

Faye sighed, setting her chopsticks down. "She said, 'this is so good'."

"Ah." Euro nodded, "and yes, yes it is." He took a bite of his own plate of food, chewing absently, blue eyes narrowed solely on his plate. Faye absently pushed the food on her plate around, taking another bite.

She felt a breeze as the door opened and welcomed it wholeheartedly; what with all the people in the packed diner, the air was stuffy and humid and Faye couldn't really enjoy her meal properly.

"Excuse me, miss," a waitress addressed Jackie politely. Jackie swallowed and looked up in curiosity. "Would you mind terribly if you were to share your booth with a few more people? The entire diner is full," she said by way of explanation.

"Oh, sure," Jackie replied, nodding. "The more, the merrier!"

The waitress smiled. "Great!" and before they knew it, six more bodies were promptly squished into the somewhat small booth, pushing the three pirates aside, on the edge. It was a bit tight fit, considering the dining area was meant for eight, and there was an extra person, but the situation was nothing entirely too major.

The entire booth went silent as people adjusted themselves on the seats, and Jackie blinked.

A young girl, who couldn't have been a day over sixteen, gave Jackie an apologetic smile from beside Euro and across from her. She had somewhat wavy brown hair that brushed her shoulders, and brown eyes. From what Jackie could see, she wore a white, long sleeved collared shirt and black tie underneath a black vest.

"Sorry, my crew really wanted to come eat here." She said, "I'm Yuki-Rin, by the way." She held out a hand politely, and Jackie shook it, her elbow in an awkward position between the table and Faye.

"I'm Jackie," she said cheerfully, "And it's really no bother!"

Yuki-Rin smiled. "Again, really sorry." She apologized.

Jackie waved her hand in a dismissive way, as her brain had latched on to a specific piece of information that Yuki-Rin had shared. "So, you guys are pirates?" she asked eagerly, leaning forward a bit.

The young girl smiled. "Yeah, I'm the captain of the Capricorn Pirates." She pointed to a girl next to her, with short black hair and blue eyes. "This is Molly O'Flannigan, my half-sister and first mate, that's Heathcliffe, Holden, and Soren Sarutobi – they're brothers and musicians –, and Kazuma Miyafuji, the swordsman." She said, all in one breath. The brothers had similar features, and all wore different variations of punk-slash-rock clothing. Kazuma had blonde dreadlocks and blue eyes, and was built similar to Euro.

Jackie, Euro and Faye all blinked. "Err…" Jackie started, "Nice to meet you all. I'm Jackie, this is Euro, my first mate, and the girl next to me is Faye, the archer."

"Nice to meet you!" they all chorused in unison.

Yuki-Rin smiled once more. "So, you three are pirates, too?

Jackie returned the grin. "Yep! We're just starting out our adventure, so it's only the three of us, but we plan to go to the Grand Line, and eventually the New World, in search of One Piece!"

One of the brothers – Heathcliffe, was it? – leaned forward, tilting his head sideways to address Jackie properly. "No, way. That's Yuki-Rin's dream, too! Except, she's content with traveling the seas for a little while longer; we're in no rush."

At the declaration, Euro and Faye turned wide eyes to Jackie, waiting for her to blow up and claim One Piece as hers. However, it never came. Jackie merely smiled. "Well, that's nice." She sat back in her chair. "I suppose I'll be seeing you again, then? Every good pirate crew needs an enemy crew as well; we even have the same dream!" she laughed. "Don't think I'll let up my search for One Piece, though, I fully intend to find it!"

Yuki-Rin returned the smile, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Jackie grinned, and stood, holding her glass water high. "Alright, this calls for a celebration! Is this the whole of your crew?" she asked Yuki-Rin, who shook her head.

"Let's see," she mused, "there's still Hatori, Kartik, Matsu, Karin, Z.G., Drusilla, Hana, Aria, Yulia, Daisuke, and Sebastian."

Jackie nodded, her violet eyes burning fiercely with glee. "Then call them here! We should have a party, with all of us pirates!"

"Yeah!" Yuki-Rin agreed, looking exited at the prospect, "To our new friends!"

"To our new friends!" everyone cheered. They all raised their glasses, and clicked them together heartily.

"_Kanpai!"_

* * *

><p>Jackie laughed along with Yuki-Rin, taking a sip of her drink. "Y'know," she started, "your crew is pretty awesome. They're… they're… fun!" she declared, upon finding the right word, "Fun, yes, that's it. Where is the rest of your crew? You said there was a… Kartik something-or-other left, right?"<p>

Yuki-Rin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Kartik, Matsu, and Karin. Z.G. should get them soon." She said, over the noise of incessant chatter.

The rest of the Capricorn Pirates had been gathered and were all at the restaurant, which was almost empty of all other customers, as the lunch hour was nearly over. They had ordered a grand feast, taking up one whole side of the diner, and were having great fun, the way pirates always seemed to be able to do, no matter who or where they were.

"Captain!" Z.G. entered the diner, the three missing Capricorns in tow, along with… Kyuuga?

"Eh? Kyuuga, what are you doing here?" Jackie asked, eyes shining as she got up so fast her chair toppled over. Maybe he had come to accept her offer…?

Kyuuga fixed his glasses, the dark frames hiding his brief expression of surprise. "I was offered free food," he said by way of explanation, shrugging. Jackie opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, "And no, I'm not going to join your crew."

Jackie pouted, sulking slightly. "How did you know I was going to ask that?" she muttered. Yuki-Rin laughed in the sidelines. She stuck out a hand with a grin.

"Hi, I'm Yuki-Rin, captain to Kartik, Matsu and Karin."

Kyuuga inclined his head slightly, extending his own hand, "Nakamura Kyuuga. I was in the cooking contest just a while ago."

"Well, nice to meet you, Kyuuga!" Yuki-Rin said cheerfully, "Join us, why don't you? We're having a celebration!"

"Of… what, exactly?" Kyuuga asked, his lips twitching ever so faintly upwards.

"Well…" Yuki-Rin looked over to Jackie sheepishly, who laughed. "We don't really know,"

"It's a celebration of our friendship!" Jackie piped up, nodding eagerly.

Kartik and Matsu exchanged looks at the declaration, before smiling and, along with Karin (who insisted she come along and try out her new bikini for Kartik to see), left to join in with the festivities.

"You should cook for us, Kyuuga!" Jackie suggested, stars in her eyes. "I _really_ want to taste your cooking,"

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea, actually," Molly, who was passing by, put in her two cents. "You and our cook, Sebastian, could do a collaboration feast."

"What do you think?" Yuk-Rin asked, warming up to the idea, her eyes bright at the thought of food. She scanned the room for her cook, and found him seated near Yulia, the thief of her crew, and Faye, talking near the bar-like area. "Sebastian!" she beckoned the brown haired, black eyed young man over.

Sebastian was slightly tanned, and wore a white shirt, jeans, and black sneakers. He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair, smiling politely. "Hi, I'm Sebastian." He told Jackie and Kyuuga, "Cook of the Capricorn Pirates."

"Jackie," the aforementioned girl started cheerfully, "And that's Kyuuga, my coo –"

"Just Kyuuga, no affiliations." The black-haired man cut in smoothly, his glasses glinting.

Yuki-Rin and Molly laughed at Jackie's vain attempts, "So, Sebastian. Kyuuga here is a fellow chef. Maybe you two could whip something up?"

"Aw, man, that sounds cool," Sebastian commented. He turned to Kyuuga, "Dude, how about a full course Dim Sum meal? I've been wanting to try out this recipe for ages."

Before their eyes, Kyuuga almost seemed… eager. "I've made a few dishes before," he told Sebastian, the two walking towards the kitchen to ask the manager if they could use the space, "I'm thinking…"

"Wow." Jackie blinked. "He's a lot more…"

"Talkative?" Yuki-Rin suggested.

"Yeah." Jackie agreed, "Weird."

Weird it was, indeed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

So… Talk about that PIPA Bill, hey? Surely you've heard of them, right? Good riddance to the SOPA Bill! Anyways, I don't know all the deets, but apparently Google has a petition for everyone to sign, called 'End Piracy, Not Liberty'. If you haven't signed the petition already, please do so! Oh, and my disclaimer: I don't own the Capricorn Pirates; they belong to the pen name _Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin_.

- Posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012


	10. Part Three: Rivals

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece. As usual…

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten: Rivals<strong>

Across the room, Euro was grinning, slamming another tankard of ale down hard onto a table as his opponent finished his own pint of the hard beer.

Faye exchanged a wry smile with Yulia, one of the two thieves on the Capricorn Pirate's crew, shaking her head as Euro called for another round. Drinking, and in broad daylight, no less? At least he had the title of 'pirate' to cover for him.

"Not bad," Kartik, shipwright of Yuki-Rin's crew, acknowledged with a slight smile. He set down his now empty tankard with a dull thud, and Matsu followed soon after. Euro smirked ruefully back.

Yulia and Faye exchanged chuckles. "At least Matsu is keeping up," Faye remarked, "We need to show those men that women can do whatever they can." Yulia nodded in agreement, and the two sat back in their seats to watch the drinking match, cheering Matsu on, who smiled a little shyly, a faint blush staining her cheeks as she brushed her black hair out of her blue eyes, adjusting her modest, reddish-purple dress carefully.

On another corner of the bar-slash-diner, a dozen more of Yuki-Rin's crew were playing a game of cards, poker, to be more precise. Graham crackers, what they were using as betting material, were scattered among the pirates.

Sebastian and Kyuuga were still in the kitchen, placing their finishing touches to their meal. From Jackie and Yuki-Rin's perspective, the two cooks appeared to be talking as they worked, enjoying the cooking process.

Yuki-Rin turned back to Jackie, a small, secretive smile on her face. "So, you're saying you want Kyuuga to join your crew?" she asked, confirming what Jackie had told her previously.

Jackie nodded, grinning a little sheepishly. "Yeah, but I'll decide once I taste his cooking!" she decided.

Yuki-Rin rather agreed once food was mentioned. "Definitely."

"Alright, everyone, food is ready!" Sebastian announced, as he and Kyuuga emerged from the kitchen, both carrying trays upon trays of food, the smells wafting towards the group and making them cease their games to gather around one big table.

Kyuuga took a toothpick from his mouth, which he had been chewing on since he started cooking. "Well, eat up."

Everyone needed no further encouragement. With a single cry of thanks, the Capricorn Pirates as well as Jackie, Euro, Faye, and Kyuuga, all dug in to the wonderful feast.

* * *

><p>Kyuuga leaned against the railing, outside in the cool night air. He exhaled, his breath coming out in visible puffs.<p>

It had been a good meal, what with his and Sebastian's collaboration feast. Nothing like the old man used to make, but good enough. At least it was free. Now, he could save his money until the next cooking competition. Hopefully, what he currently had would tide him over until then.

He made to leave, fixing his glasses with the back of his finger, when someone behind him cleared their throat. He froze.

"Hey." Faye leaned with her back against the railing, facing Kyuuga calmly.

Kyuuga barely did so much as blink. "Hey," he replied coolly. "Can I help you?"

Faye flashed an innocent smile. "Sort of." She paused. "You left the party." She said, "Not quite your scene?"

"Not particularly," Kyuuga responded.

Faye gave a small smile. "Me, neither. Came out here for a breather." She hesitated. "So, have you thought more on the offer we've given you?"

He had, actually. Quite a lot. But he wasn't going to tell her that. "No," he lied, meeting the markswoman's eyes. "And I don't intend to. I'd rather not sail the seas marauding for treasure. I have my own dream to fulfill, you know." As soon as he said the words, he regretted them. Shoot. He hadn't meant to let that out.

Faye regarded him knowingly. Surprisingly, she didn't say any more on the matter. "We don't plunder for treasure, as you put it," she said, startling Kyuuga, not that it showed. "It's stereotypical. Sure, most pirates do that, but Jackie? Jackie's different." She chuckled humorlessly. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this."

Kyuuga kept silent.

"I used to hate pirates with a passion." Faye said suddenly, "I still kind of do, actually."

Kyuuga regarded the pink-haired girl in mild surprise. "Then, why did you join their crew?"

"Because. Like I said, she's different. They're different." She turned to look Kyuuga in the eyes. "We all have dreams, you know, just like you. I… I want to find the ten Yumiya." She confessed. "Euro, he has something to achieve in the New World, and Jackie," she chuckled, "Jackie wants to become the Pirate King."

Kyuuga's face slackened ever so slightly. The… Pirate King?

"I know, I was surprised, too." Faye admitted, upon seeing the black-haired man's barely repressed expression. "But she means business."

The glasses-wearing man said nothing for a while, and the two stayed in relative silence. Kyuuga thought of his… abilities. His accursed powers. Would Jackie accept him for who he was? Like the old man had? Or would she kick him to the curb, just like… just like his okāsan had?

A monster… that's what he was…

"I'll think about it," he finally said. He told himself that he was lying; that he was only saying it to get away, but deep down, he knew that it wasn't true. How annoying.

Faye smiled. "Good," she said simply. "You won't regret it."

"Why did you tell me all this?" he asked, "Did _she_ put you up to it?"

"If you mean Jackie, then no. I did this myself, because, well, she's a good judge of character. And if she trusts you, so do I." Faye said firmly.

Kyuuga paused, taking the information in. Then, he spoke, slowly, deliberately. His face lit up just a tad as he asked the markswoman one, single question.

"Ever heard of All Blue?"

Faye blinked at the abrupt change in topic, before recovering and nodding once. "Yes. It's some special ocean, isn't it?"

Kyuuga sighed, the corners of his mouth tilting upwards, just a little, his glasses glinting. He fixed them, pushing the frames up with the back of his finger. "Basically, yes. It's a place where all fish come and gather; a cook's dream."

Faye's face cleared as she understood. "That's your dream? To find this magical sea?"

"Yeah." Kyuuga nodded, "But you probably think I'm crazy for even thinking it exists, right?"

The pink-haired girl shook her head, "No, not at all. If my goal is to find the Ten Yumiya, who am I to say anything about your dream?"

Kyuuga smirked, conceding her point. "And… your captain… she really wants to be the Pirate King?"

"Really, really," Faye replied.

After that, the two sat in thoughtful silence, listening to the boisterous sounds coming from the tavern that indicated the party was still going on, and that none had noticed their absence.

Finally, Kyuuga stood, causing Faye to look over, mildly curious. "I'll be taking my leave, now," he told her, "tell your captain…" he paused.

"Tell her that I'll think about it."

Faye nodded with a small smile, sending the older man a two-finger salute. Kyuuga inclined his head, before pivoting on his heel, and walking the other way.

When he was nearly out of sight, Faye smiled. "You can come out now, Euro."

The blue-haired man emerged from the shadows with a slight smirk, and the two exchanged looks as they watched the glass-wearing man walk off.

"How much did you hear?" she asked her crew mate.

"Enough," was Euro's response. "Think we should tell Jackie now, or tomorrow?"

Faye pursed her lips in thought. "Tomorrow." She finally decided, "Right now, we should let her get to know her new friends."

Euro nodded his agreement, and the two walked back into the tavern together, each holding on to their respective weapons.

A few miles away, Kyuuga continued to make his way to the hotel where he would be staying, contemplating over the pink-haired girl's words.

_Pirate King, eh?_

_Interesting…_

* * *

><p>"Well, it was fun getting to know you, Jackie," Yuki-Rin smiled, her crew standing a few feet behind her. They were all outside, the hustle and bustle of the villagers tittering around them.<p>

Jackie nodded, "Same here, Yuki-Rin. But, why do you have to leave so soon?"

The high-ambitioned captain merely grinned, "I can never stay in one spot for too long. We," she gestured to her crew, "will be continuing on our journey, but rest assured, I'm confident we'll see each other on the Grand Line."

"Definitely." Jackie agreed. She paused, as if contemplating something, before smirking and holding out a hand before her.

Yuki-Rin glanced at Jackie, a questioning look on her face.

"Rivals?" Jackie proposed, still keeping her hand out.

The Capricorn Pirate's face cleared, and the girl nodded with a confident smile, placing her hand in Jackie's. "Rivals." She agreed firmly.

The two captains exchanged grins, before letting go. Euro leaned on _Same no Ha_, eyes landing on Kartik and Matsu. "I'll be looking forward to our next match," he said with a slight smirk.

Kartik and Matsu laughed at the younger man and agreed.

"Well, guys, let's set out!" Yuki-Rin announced. The Capricorn Pirates cheered, and headed for the second docks, the one opposite from where Jackie had placed her own boat for safekeeping.

They could still be heard, chattering and having fun in the way only pirates could, long after they were out of sight.

Jackie frowned a little. "I'll miss them. They were fun," she declared.

"Yeah, but remember, we'll see them on the Grand Line, anyway." Euro pointed out.

"And," Faye added, "now that they're gone, I think it's safe to tell you that I talked to Kyuuga last night."

"I eavesdropped," Euro offered.

Faye rolled her eyes at the first mate as Jackie started to grin. "Really? What did he say, what did he say?"

Faye laughed. "Come on, let's walk. Buy me a new necklace and I'll tell you,"

Jackie chuckled, pointing at her markswoman accusingly, "How devious of you. But, alright."

The three made their way down the street, side by side, as Faye told Jackie of her and Kyuuga's encounter the previous day.

Jackie pumped her fist in the air after Faye was done talking. "Alright! That's great news!"

"Kyuuga's a really good cook," Euro remarked, as he had been silent during the whole retelling.

Jackie nodded in agreement. "So, anyway, while we wait for Kyuuga's reply, what should we do until then? I want to check out the scenery where Yuki-Rin docked her ship; she told me that it was really cool."

Euro shrugged. "I don't have anything I need to do."

"I need to go shopping," Faye said predictably, "So I'll take Euro with me to hold my bags while you go check out the scenery!"

"What, wha –"

"Great!" Jackie said, cutting Euro off, "See you guys,"

And with that, Faye dragged a spluttering Euro away, whilst Jackie headed for the second docking station.

* * *

><p>"Captain!" a soldier saluted the man before him, who looked over with an eyebrow raised.<p>

"Yes?"

"We've spotted Violet-Eyes, sir! She's headed for the docks, on the other side of the island! The scouting team is following her as we speak!"

Captain 'Chalk' White nodded in satisfaction, dismissing the soldier with a wave of his hand.

He had found Violet-Eyes, and it was time for retribution.

Retribution, in the name of Absolute Justice.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

I'm sad to see the Capricorn Pirates leave. They'll be back someday though, no worries! But anyway, thanks for sticking with me for ten whole chapters, guys!

- Posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012


	11. Part Four: Attack!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: Attack!<strong>

Jackie hummed to herself absentmindedly, her bare feet stretched out leisurely before her as soft grass slipped through her curled fingers like trickling water. She was on the outcrop of land Yuki-Rin had mentioned to her before, staring at the admittedly great view.

If she squinted and looked hard enough, she could see a faint speck in the horizon, which she entertained herself with the notion that the said dot was The Hyperion, the Capricorn Pirate's ship. Placing her hands behind her head and lying down to stare at the clouds above, Jackie smiled and let out a noise of complete, utter satisfaction. Not too long ago, she'd been in this very same position, marveling at the sky as she steeled herself to begin her journey as a pirate.

And, well, look at her now. She had Euro and Faye, and hopefully Kyuuga, too. Her nakama. She was happy and pursuing her dream to become Pirate King. And she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Jackie stretched and yawned, much like a cat would, her eyelids fluttering shut. She listened closely to the faint whistle of the grass, the howls of the wind, the soft pitter-patter of footsteps not too far from her…

Her eyes flew open as the last thought registered into her mind, senses on high alert. She'd definitely heard something, some_one_ making their way towards her. Call her paranoid, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. She sat up slowly, her elbows holding up her upper body. Scanning the area for anything, she caught a faint rustle in her peripheral coming from behind a rather thorny bush not but a few metres away.

Was there someone…?

"I've found Violet-Eyes, sir! She's at the other side of the island; requesting backup!" a voice barked and the bush quivered – and not because of the wind.

Well… that settled the matter.

Jackie was up in an instant at the voice, her eyes flashing and her Wind and Fire Wheels unhooked from her side, glinted in the sunlight from their position curled over each of her fists. "Who's there?" she asked, staring at the bush, which had suddenly gone still.

When no reply came, the violet-eyed captain stalked over to the bush, raising an eyebrow wordlessly at the lowly marine staring wide-eyed up at her. "Having fun over there?" she drawled sarcastically, feeling an odd sense of calm taking her over.

The soldier said nothing at first, drawing his cutlass shakily and holding it out between them. He stood on weak knees. "S-stop right where you are, Violet-Eyes! Captain White is c-coming soon and until then, I'll keep you here even if it means d-death for me!"

Captain White… why did that name sound incredibly familiar? Jackie shook the thought out of her head and shot into action, gliding behind the marine and holding one _Kazekaki _to the sliver of neck peeking out between the cloths of his uniform. "Death, huh?" she echoed, still wracking her brain for a marine captain named White – possibly with white hair or eyes. She heard the man gulp, pressing his throat into the sharp edge of Jackie's weapon further. A thin line of blood formed at his jugular.

A long silence passed as the two stood in that same position. Finally, Jackie loosened her grip on the man, and said, "Oh, he's that guy who was holding May hostage."

"Wh-what?" the man asked, scarcely believing his luck.

"Is your captain coming here, now?" Jackie demanded, holding her weapon up threateningly. The soldier nodded quickly, eyeing _Kazekaki _with nervousness shining clear in his eyes – a little bit of fear, too.

Jackie smirked at his response. "Good." And with that, she slammed the hilt of one _Kazekaki _own hard onto the man's cranium, watching as he crumpled to the earth in an ungraceful heap. She sighed heavily, frowning a bit as she reminisced her time with White. It had been unpleasant, to say in the least.

But for now… Jackie's eyes quickly scanned the horizon, spotting a flurry of marine coat not too far from her own position. The clear leader of the group – White, no doubt – strode through the town purposefully, the men under his command struggling to keep up with his steady gait. Huh. She wasn't going to go out of her way to fight him or anything, but if he came to her… then she wouldn't be responsible for her actions.

Maybe it was time they settled things once and for all.

* * *

><p>"I don't see why I had to come along," Euro muttered mostly to himself, not that it stopped Faye from overhearing.<p>

"I need you to hold my bags for me," Faye replied, grinning at her crewmate good naturedly. "With the money Jackie gave me, I can buy quite a few things if I set my mind to it."

Euro rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but smirk back. "What happens when you use up all our money, huh?"

"Easy," Faye retorted, "we're pirates, aren't we? We can find treasure or something."

"Alrig –" Euro started to agree, only to have his voice drowned out by another.

"Stop in the name of Justice, Violet-Eyed Pirates!"

Every single eye turned towards the cause of the noise, though since they were at the edge of the shopping district and nearing the docks where their boat was at, there weren't many people to look in the first place. A horde of marines flocked the area, and as fast as a blink of the eye, stall owners and shoppers alike were all fleeing the place, taking as much as they could carry with them. Euro and Faye blinked, the latter leaning towards the former slowly.

"Marines? What are they doing here?" Faye hissed, "Surely not for us, right?"

"Maybe," Euro replied carefully, "but I recognise the ensign. He's the one who tried to track us down a few days ago."

Faye's eyes widened in recognition. "Do you think Jackie's okay?"

"She'll be fine." The first mate stated, coolly observing the mass of marines that now surrounded them; it was clear that it was them they had been looking for. "But for now, let's worry about our own hides, yeah?"

Faye paused, before nodding shortly. "You take offense, I defense?"

Euro rolled his eyes at the dumb question, his posture relaxed and his hand resting lightly on _Same no Ha_. "Hm, I don't know," he pretended to muse, "Maybe I should take defense this time, seeing as I'm a close-range fighter, and you take offense, as you're a long-ranged fighter."

"Shut up, I'm just a little… scared." Faye replied reluctantly, wondering to herself how Euro could be so _calm_. Before he could say a word, their conversation was cut short as the ensign shouted to them again.

"Violet-Eyed Pirates, stand down in the name of justice!"

"Violet-Eyed Pirates?" the two echoed despite themselves. They glanced at each other, noses wrinkled at the term.

"Sh-Shut up, pirate scum!" the ensign, sporting a nasty welt on the side of his face courtesy of Euro, growled. "Men, stand ready! Capture the pirates at all costs!"

Euro and Faye tensed. The blue-haired man hefted his weapon up in the common defensive stance, and Faye raised her bow, an arrow already crooked into place. The two stood back to back, moving into action just as the first of the marines surged forward.

One fell swoop of _Same no Ha _had three marines colliding into one another, before hitting the ground, hard. A few more soldiers went down with them, tripping over their own comrades. Euro backed up a few more paces, risking a glance behind him. They were nearing the strip of beach, the horde of marines creating an arc and having the advantage of sheer mass in numbers.

Faye was a few paces back, a good distance away as she stood steady, careful not to move around much lest she trip and fall on a grain of sand, sending arrow after arrow calmly towards the group. She trusted Euro; he was doing his fair share of keeping the marines away, and she felt fairly safe. Now, if only they could find Jackie and get off the island…

"Oh, shoot," she hissed, taking note that her quiver was nearly empty; her spare was back on the boat. Without her arrows, she was useless; and what could she possibly do to help then? Sending another arrow soaring towards a marine just about ready to slice Euro's thigh open, Faye watched as the soldier went down, before scanning the horizon for their measly boat.

"Come on, come on," she murmured, taking a few more steps back. She sent another arrow on its way before looking around wildly. It wasn't until she only had one measly arrow left did she spot the boat that had never looked so welcoming before. "Euro!" she called, feeling confidence spread through her.

Euro turned at the sound, knocking another two marines down flat on their backs. "Yeah?" he grunted, taking in Faye's hopeful look.

"I've found the boat; come on!"

The blue-haired first mate needed no further encouragement, and, taking down the ensign who had crept up to him, he hoofed it and ran blindly, following the swish of Faye's unmistakeable pink hair. Hopefully, he thought fleetingly, none of the marines held guns.

He'd never felt so exposed in his life.

* * *

><p>Jackie breathed through her nose, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. White was in a similar state, – a little winded, but otherwise fine – a few marines scattered around them, marking a sort of battlefield and its boundaries.<p>

Not that Jackie intended to follow them; she was a pirate, after all.

White sneered down at her, his weapon glinting silver in the light. After he had arrived, the two had started their intricate dance, weaving through the field and exchanging blows, not that one had yet to land. White was good, Jackie had to admit. And for some reason, she felt as if she hadn't yet experienced his full power.

"It's time I get you back for that time you humiliated me back at Ichigo Island, Violet-Eyes," White curled his lip disdainfully, as if Jackie were mere scum under his boot. Jackie didn't bother to reply; lunging, she risked a daring move for White's chest.

That was her first mistake.

White deflected the blow quickly, batting Jackie's weapon to the side and, as his was longer, aimed for her arm. He managed to glance a blow off the skin; it would not have been so bad, Jackie supposed, had he not been hiding a special ability up his sleeve.

Eyes wide, Jackie watched, speechless as blood drew from the weapon – and kept on drawing. The nodachi looked as if it was sucking the crimson fluid from the wound, staining the steel red. After a moment, she began to feel a little lightheaded. Realising her predicament, Jackie cursed and forced herself to jump back, staring at the wound – it had at first started out as a small cut, but in just a few seconds, the area was now pale from loss of blood in such a short amount of time.

"I ate the Draw Draw fruit," White stated carelessly, blood slowly dripping from his nodachi. "Even the tiniest cut will continuously draw blood, among other liquids." He stared at her coldly. "Give up now, Violet-Eyes. While you still can."

Jackie scoffed, which brought a wave of nausea to wash over her. "Like I'd do that," she muttered, reaching into her boot and sending the throwing knife towards her opponent with her good arm as swiftly as she could. Her aim was a little off, though it managed to slice the skin on his sword arm, leaving a sizable wound behind.

White snarled in pain and surprise, switching his nodachi to the opposite hand. He needed medical attention and soon, but not before he got his comeuppance.

The two flew for the other and exchanged blows, Jackie being more careful of not getting cut by White's nodachi. Her head swam and she realised she'd lost more blood than she'd originally thought. White's ability, apparently, worked fast. Thankfully, it seemed the captain relied on his status and Devil Fruit to crawl his way up the marine ranks rather than on pure skill alone; not that it meant he didn't know his way around a nodachi though.

A few minutes later, Jackie grimaced as one _Kazekaki _flew from her hand and skittered across the land behind White. The aforementioned man smirked, his upper lip curling in satisfaction as he took in Jackie; pale, nauseated, and missing one-half of her weapon.

Which, however, didn't mean he was faring any better: the captain had lost sufficient blood from his right arm, and had to use his left to wield his nodachi, his less dominate arm. His blows had less force accompanying them, and his blocks were a little on the clumsy side.

At one point, White had barked at his subordinates to stand back, as this was his fight and his alone. At least, Jackie thought fleetingly as she parried another blow, White was somewhat honourable.

She ducked under a powerful swing and sent a side kick to White's gut, causing him to double over. She used it to her advantage, _Kazekaki _lodging in his stomach. She twisted as best she could, and White coughed up some blood. She pulled away quickly, jumped back as the erratic star pattern just above his belly button dealt out blood at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Captain White!" a few marines made to move forward, but White held them back with a hand, face pale as his injured hand flew to clutch his stomach. He lunged forward in a risky move, nodachi outstretched, and Jackie side stepped, only to be surprised when he swung sideways, his weapon catching her painfully in the ribs. _Kazekaki_ flew up to lessen the blow, but a sizable cut was made and blood was drawing quickly from the wound. She could practically feel her blood transferring from her own body to the nodachi, and it took every ounce of strength she had to push away from the lethal weapon. But the damage was done, and Jackie could only slash at White's other arm, smiling grimly as she hit her mark.

White snarled, loosing feeling in his left arm, fast. It was all he could do not to black out, and he knew that attacking again would prove useless. He gritted his teeth. "Take me… take me to the infirmary." His voice was weak but firm.

Jackie growled. "Coward," she got out, "Stay here and fight me."

White shook his head. "I'm not stupid, Violet-Eyes." Then, in a chance to redeem himself, he snarled, "Rest assured the marines will be notified of you." looking disgusted, he spat, "Take me away from here. Marine one-two-one, you're in charge. I want her captured…"

Jackie felt her eyelids lowering despite herself, as she struggled to stay conscious. The last thing she saw before she drifted off was White far, far in the distance, and marine one-two-one ordering his comrades to attack, eyeing her nervously as she swayed dangerously on the spot.

She'd lost quite a lot of blood.

* * *

><p>Kyuuga double knotted his piece of cloth-turned-bag and jabbed a stick into the hole. He stood up, feeling mildly satisfied yet, not. His whole life's earnings; everything he owned, all fit into a bag the size of his head. He didn't know how to feel about that.<p>

Kyuuga made to get off his dingy, bag in hand when a frame on a makeshift dresser caught his eye. The corners of his mouth twitched up a little, and he reached out for the picture, staring at it.

Two figures were smiling at the camera, one of them being Kyuuga himself, only much younger. The other was an aging man with greying hair and green eyes. His grandfather – basically. In reality, the old man was a travelling cook he had stumbled upon by sheer luck, and he – Argus was his name – had took Kyuuga in.

Kyuuga slipped the picture out of its frame and into his bag before jumping poised off the deck, his guarded expression never wavering. After a moment, he decided he'd leave the boat as it was; it wasn't as if he was coming back to get it, after all.

He made his way towards the village, quickening his pace almost imperceptibly when his sharp eye caught a horde of marines – he recognised the uniforms – standing on a higher elevation of land. They looked uncertain of themselves, before the leader, he presumed, barked out an order to capture 'Violet-Eyes'. Whoever that was.

Wait. Kyuuga stopped in his tracks, curiously glancing towards the marines once more. Violet-Eyes? Who did he know who had eyes like those? Not many, though…

Resolved, Kyuuga stepped nonchalantly on the steps that led to the outcrop of land above, each step upwards bringing the scene into view. Marines wielding cutlasses and pistols alike made an arc around a young woman who was decidedly Jackie. Kyuuga blinked at her limp figure, catching her bleeding side and unconscious state. Had the marines done that to her?

"Hey, get out of here!" a marine barked to him suddenly. "We're trying to capture a highly deadly pirate, so please evacuate immediately!"

Kyuuga nearly snorted aloud. High deadly? Capture? Jackie was unconscious, for crying out loud!

"I don't think I can do that," Kyuuga said calmly, assessing each marine carefully, eyes flitting to and fro before landing once again on the captain to Euro and Faye.

"He's not a Violet-Eye, sir," another marine whispered to the first. "I've seen him. He's from the cooking contest!"

Kyuuga raised an eyebrow at that, and before the marine could speak, he did. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take away my… _captain_… before she sustains permanent internal damage." He said, carefully sound out 'captain', testing it on his tongue.

"You're one of them?" a marine barked, eyes narrowing. Immediately, all weapons were suddenly aimed at him. He nodded and dropped his bag, just as the leader of the group called out a battle cry, ordering them all to capture him at all costs.

Marines. How reckless they could be.

As the first marine reached his place, Kyuuga sidestepped his swing, his elbow reaching out to lightly tap the man on the shoulder. In a burst of power, he went flying backwards. Five more surged forward in the first's place, and Kyuuga shot into action. His feet made careful, calculated steps as his elbows, knees, and forearms made contact with each marine, sending them flying. It wasn't long before all were writhing on the ground, clutching their wounds in agony.

Kyuuga felt a little drained from his access use of power, shaking his head to ward off the headache and gently slipping his arm under Jackie's neck, and the other under her thighs.

Hoisting the captain up so that he was cradling her, Kyuuga grimaced down at the raven-haired girl. Assessing her. He'd decided to take Jackie up on her offer, but he found himself hesitating all the same. Would she really accept him for who he was? What would she say if she had witnessed he power he had just released? His mother certainly hadn't.

Kyuuga sighed a little, carefully picking up his forgotten bag and making his way down the steps and to the village once more.

Devil Fruits… they really were troublesome.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

I… I have… NO words that can describe how horrible I feel. It's been, what, a month? Yeah, a little more than that. Life just caught up to me, I suppose. Though I really have no excuse other than writer's block! Hehe… Yeah. I'm still sorry. But my muse is back (somewhat) and I'm ready to write! Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. And I hope you weren't disappointed with this chapter: my skills are a little rough around the edges since it's been a while. By the way, yay! The first Devil Fruit user for Jackie's crew! Or _is_ he going to join? Who knows? Dun-dun-dun...

- Posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012


	12. Part Five: Always Moving Forward

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: Always Moving Forward<strong>

"Where is she?" Faye muttered in exasperation, lowering the binoculars from her eyes. "She told us she'd be here, and yet all _I_ see are a bunch of knocked out marines."

"Well, at least we know that she was here, and that she's alive." Euro commented from his place at the steering wheel, "If she wasn't, then the marines wouldn't be there, either. We just have to find her, and then get out of here as fast as we can."

Faye let out a sigh, but smiled grudgingly at Euro. "You're right. We should leave the boat somewhere inconspicuous, then check places Jackie would go."

"The restaurant, maybe," Euro suggested, "Or if she's injured, the hospital."

"Let's try the hospital first," Faye decided, "because there're only a few on the whole island in comparison to the many restaurants here."

"Good idea." Euro turned right, following the perimeter of the island as fast as he dared, careful not to bump into any coral along the way.

Faye leaned against the railing, swiping a stray strand of hair from her face. She sighed, fiddling with her bow absentmindedly, before staring at the island as if she could see through it, all the way to where Jackie was. "Let's just hope she's okay."

Euro smirked. "Come on. This is Jackie we're talking about. Of course she'll be fine."

That made Faye quirk her lips a little and nod in agreement. "Yeah…"

Euro turned another right, slowing under a rocky cliff.

* * *

><p><em>"Come on, Jackie! Don't be weak! Push forward!"<em>

_Jackie peered through the body of a younger version of herself, staring at the figure before her. She heard her voice come from her body, but somehow, it sounded distant; far away. "I'm trying, Eric! I'm trying!"_

_The young boy, no older than eleven rolled his eyes and swept his unusual purple hair out of them impatiently. "You can do it, Jackie. I know you can!"_

_She felt herself purse her lips, before a simple staff came into her vision as she thrust the weapon forward. "I…" Suddenly, her body felt light as she jumped up, and the staff went in an arc towards the nearest tree trunk. She fell to the ground, before standing again and watching as the trunk cracked and shuddered, leaves falling around her. It didn't split in half, but it was pretty close._

_She was aware of her face stretching into a wide grin. "I did it!" She looked to Eric expectantly, feeling her eyes go wide._

_The purple-haired boy smiled, giving her double thumbs up. "Good job! I knew you could do it!"_

"_Thanks, Eric!"_

_Eric._

_Eric._

Eric.

"Jackie, can you hear me?"

Rousing from her dream-like state, Jackie stirred, feeling the pull of reality calling to her. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she herself felt incredibly feverish. It took much for Jackie to open her eyes even a sliver. When she did, her vision was hazy as she took in the lone figure looming over her.

"Eric?" her voice was hoarse, and sounded nothing like herself. Her eyes opened wider and she noticed who the person was before he even spoke.

"No… Kyuuga."

A pang of disappointment coursed through her, even though she told herself she should be happy that Kyuuga was there. "I…" her head swam as she attempted to push herself up on her elbows. "Where am I?"

She saw Kyuuga smirk a little; the tiniest quirk to his lips. "Good question. You're in the hospital. You lost quite a bit of blood."

That was when it all came back to her. She groaned aloud, not bothering to muffle the sound as her eyes fluttered shut. "Where's White?"

"I'm sorry?"

Jackie cracked open an eye, taking in the blinding white colour of the clinic disdainfully. "You know… the marine captain I was fighting."

Kyuuga looked thoughtful. "Well, I only remember seeing a bunch of regular marines; no captain."

"He must have left then." Jackie huffed, before regretting the action as it brought on another wave of nausea. "Coward."

"What were you doing fighting them anyway?" Kyuuga asked, taking his glasses off for a moment to wipe them on his shirt.

"Oh. It's a long story. Basically, we got him mad, and he came after us." Jackie surmised. She paused. "Where's Euro and Faye? Have you seen them?"

"No." Kyuuga shook his head.

Jackie pursed her lips, before shrugging – a move that made her wince a second later. "They're probably fine; they can hold their own. But I need to find them and get out of here as soon as possible." She made to get up, but immediately felt light-headed.

"…Idiot, you can't stand yet," Kyuuga's voice penetrated through her foggy mind. She felt a hand on the small of her back, slowly guiding her back into a lying position.

"I'm fine, Kyuuga," Jackie tried to protest, "Or at least, I will be in a few minutes. Just give me a moment."

Kyuuga sighed, raking a hand through his hair. Once Jackie was properly in bed, he spoke. "Before the doctor comes back, I need to… tell you my answer to your proposition."

Instantaneously, like the magic word had been spoken, Jackie stilled all movement and perked up visibly. "Really? So you'll join us?"

Kyuuga shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Why not? I want to find All Blue, and I can't do it cooped up here in East Blue. If I come with you, I can have a chance at fulfilling my dream." His glasses glinted. "Besides, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me."

Jackie nodded slowly, a grin stretching her face. Then, a flash of something caught her eye. "What's that?" she pointed to the picture poking out of Kyuuga's travel bag.

Kyuuga followed her finger, taking the picture out. "Oh, that's Argus and I. He's the old man who took me in when I…" he hesitated, watching Jackie's expression carefully. "When I got kicked out by my okāsan, because I ate a – a Devil Fruit."

Jackie's eyes went wide. "Devil Fruit?"

Kyuuga closed his eyes, nodding. There went his chance to go find All Blue. But if he was honest with himself, he couldn't hide his secret for much longer.

"That is so – _cool_!"

His eyes flew open.

Jackie's mouth was agape and her eyes were sparkling. "Wow! You're the first one in our crew who possesses the Fruit of the Sea! I can't wait until Euro and Faye find out about this!" to top it all off, she beamed at the older man.

Kyuuga stood stock still, taking in her reaction. Finally, he blinked and looked away. "You're okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jackie looked confused. "Well, I guess you would feel that way because your mom kicked you out, but remember," She tapped the side of her head with a pointer finger, "I'm a pirate; I've seen a few other Devil Fruit's before. Like White, for example. Or that Kagemine guy… Anyway, it's really nothing abnormal." She looked a little relieved. "Was that all? The only reason you wouldn't join?"

Kyuuga shrugged, recovering quickly. "Partly. I also didn't want to join just any other crew."

Jackie smiled, before gesturing back to the picture still in his hand. "So, who's that? Argus, right?"

Kyuuga nodded, pushing his glasses up with the back of his fingers. "Hn. After I accidentally ate the fruit and when my mom kicked me out, Argus found me drifting off in sea, starving and dehydrated. He took me in, saved my life, and trained me to be the chef I am today." He shrugged. "He died a few years ago due to old age; I've long since accepted it though, because at least he got to live life until the very last moment."

Jackie nodded wisely. "Not many people actually get the privilege to these days." She paused. "Okay. I feel better now." Then she sat up in bed.

"Wait, I really don't think you should…" Kyuuga trailed off when Jackie smiled at him.

"See? I'm fine. A little dizzy, but fine. We have no time to waste!" she peeled back the blankets from her person, grimacing at the plain hospital gown that adorned her body. "But first things first, let's get me some change of clothes."

Kyuuga sighed. "Troublesome."

* * *

><p>Coutori Isabella steeled up her nerve, reaching up to tap the male of the duo on the shoulder. She regretted her choice almost as soon as she performed the action.<p>

Quick as lightning, Takayoshi Euro's hand had reached up to hers and twisted, hard. Another second passed and his monstrous weapon was dangerously close to her neck, tiny silver spikes protruding from under the white bandages.

"Wait…" she managed to gasp out.

"It's Coutori, from the cooking contest." She vaguely heard the pink-haired one – Faye – comment suspiciously.

She began to shake her head, then thought better of it and merely attempted to send the blue-haired one desperate _don't kill me _signals. "I… your captain… and… Kyuuga…"

A moment later, the pressure left her wrist and the weapon retreated from her neck. She sighed in relief, rubbing her wrist to relive the pain.

"What did you say? Something about Jackie?" Euro demanded of her.

She nodded, grimacing. "I know where your captain is. I overheard a few marines talking about capturing her and Kyuuga before their captain regained consciousness."

She saw the two share a secretive glance, before the first mate spoke again. "How can we know you're not luring us to the enemy? I mean, you tricked Kyuuga once, you could do it again."

Isabella shook her head. "No. That was for the money; I have nothing personal against you all. I felt I owe it to you, anyhow." She admitted.

Another glance exchanged between the two. Then, "Fine. Take us to her."

* * *

><p>"– and he has a Devil Fruit!" Jackie exploded, looking like the last part was what she had wanted to share all this time.<p>

Euro and Faye exchanged an amused look. They were right; Jackie was fine. Kyuuga cleared his throat uncomfortably, fixing his glasses by habit.

"What fruit?" Faye asked curiously.

"The Impact Impact Fruit," Kyuuga said, "I can let out bursts of power from any part of my body, but the power comes from my own energy. It depletes fast. Also, I don't use my hands because –"

"A cook's hands are most important." Isabella added in, before retreating in embarrassed silence when all heads turned to look at her.

Finally, Jackie broke the tension. "Thanks for bringing Euro and Faye here." She said simply.

Isabella relaxed slowly. "It's… it's no problem." She looked around the busy street, before hesitating. "I should… I should leave now."

Jackie blinked, but before she could say anything, Kyuuga cut in. "You know, you had a fair chance of winning… Even though you cheated in the competition, it was a good one." He shrugged. "Maybe we'll see you around."

Isabella managed a small smile at the words. "Thanks… see you around."

Then she left, disappearing in the crowd before their very eyes. Euro turned to Kyuuga once she was gone, smirking a little. "Well… Welcome abroad."

Kyuuga returned the look. "Thanks."

"Hate to break this moment, but we should get going now, guys," Faye looked around her nervously, keeping an eye out for any flash of white uniform.

Jackie grinned, fixing the cap on her head and turning in the direction where Euro had left the boat. "Alright! Let's go!"

Then, she sped off, seemingly fine.

* * *

><p>"You know who we should look for now?"<p>

Jackie looked incredibly serious, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the boat with her hands poised on her lap. Kyuuga was in the miniscule kitchen, still within hearing distance as the door was swung wide open. A toothpick was in his mouth as he easily flipped the pan and the food in it. Euro was steering the boat, and Faye sharpening the new set of arrows she had bought before they'd left.

"Who?" Euro asked for all of them, turning left.

"A navigator," Jackie announced, before pausing. "And a doctor, now that I think about it."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you guys all this time," Euro stressed, looking triumphant as he turned to look at the rest of his crew. "Remember? I always said we needed a navigator." To Kyuuga, he added, "this was before you joined. But I was right, nonetheless."

Faye shot Euro an amused glance, before turning to Jackie. "I think that's a good idea. We want to get to the Grand Line, so it would be best to get one before we do so."

Jackie nodded, eyes brightening at the mention of the Grand Line. "Yeah…" she smiled. "So anyway, what island will we be stopping at next?"

"Hmmm…" Faye studied the map spread out in front of her, pausing in her act of sharpening her arrows. "We should arrive at Marie Island in a few days; of course, I don't know for sure since I'm just the archer, but around then. After that, the shortest route to Logue Town would be to travel to Anaya Island; it's incredibly small though, so we'll have to stock up on supplies at both Marie Island and Logue Town before we attempt to cross over to the Grand Line."

"Sound likes a plan." Jackie grinned.

Kyuuga put the finishing touches to his array of dishes. The aromatic smell wafted out the tiny room and into the air. "Food's ready," Kyuuga announced unnecessarily.

The crew gathered into the small room to bring their plates out onto the main deck, holding steaming plates in their hands. "Mmmm…" Jackie inhaled deeply. "This smells so good."

Euro grinned, leaning against the railing. "Well, guys, enjoy the first cooked meal by our very own chef."

Faye grinned, holding up her glass of water. "To Kyuuga!"

"To Kyuuga!" Jackie and Euro echoed, while the man in question merely rolled his eyes and fixed his glasses. He took a plate for himself, leaning against the railing casually.

Jackie grinned, taking a bite of fried rice. She felt content. Hopefully, they would be acquiring a navigator soon, then a doctor, and a decent ship wouldn't hurt, either.

But for now, life was pretty darn good.

* * *

><p><strong>Crew Members<strong>

**Jackie **– 17 years, Captain

**Takayoshi Euro** – 19 years, First Mate

**Faye** – 16 years, Markswoman (Archer)

**Nakamura Kyuuga **– 22 years, Cook

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Now, without further ado, review replies from two chapters ago! (Because I forgot to do them)

**Oxenstierna D. Yuki Rin **Haha, yeah, this is not the last of the Capricorn Pirates! And yeah! I like Kyuuga :)

**Vague Eloquence **Thanks a ton, I'm really glad you think my writing skills are up to par. Heh-heh. Most reviews are what they like about the chapter, which is totally fine, but I like how you add in stuff about my writing – what I'm trying to improve – as well.

**Mareo and Anime **Aw shucks, you flatter me too much! Haha, and I'm actually very excited to have Yakan make an appearance! I love the part where she's gonna have a school-girl crush on… well, you know ;)

Yay, next arc, Marie Island! Yippee! On a side note, March break for me is coming up pretty soon. So I'm happy for that; plus, I can hopefully cough up chapters faster! I just have to get through my French test this Thursday… yeah, I'm kind of failing (ish) because French doesn't go well with me… it's my worst subject nooo.

- Posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012


	13. Marie Arc Part One: Merely a Merchant

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen: Merely a Merchant<strong>

_Same no Ha _lay across his lap as Euro lightly danced his fingers overtop the bandages. His thoughts were far from the boat, thinking back to when he had first gotten his prized weapon.

It was a Saturday. He had been training in the woods when word that a pirate ship had been spotted came by him. He had hefted his metal pole on his shoulder, wiped the sweat from his brow, and gone to meet the captain of the ship.

Turned out, the Captain of the Virgule Pirates had evil intentions, and so Euro had taken him out within ten minutes. It would have taken less, only Captain Virgule had _Same no Ha _at the time, a dangerous weapon to behold. Once he'd defeated and sent him back to his ship, Euro had taken the peculiar weapon as his own. Since the moment he had held it in his hands, it felt right, like it was meant for him or some other equally ridiculous notion.

But still, it was true.

Having Kyuuga, a Devil Fruit user as a part of the crew got Euro thinking. What if S_ame no Ha _had somehow been given a Fruit of the Devil, hence the reason why it had unexplainable powers? Before, Euro had merely accepted the fact that his weapon was special, but still… there had to be a story behind it.

As he felt the surface of the weapon now, no spikes came out to greet him. A low hum, very faint, throbbed under his fingers.

_Same no Ha _knew exactly who its owner was.

Euro sighed and leaned back, staring at the sun just starting to peek out on the horizon. The crew would be up soon, except for Jackie; she was a heavy sleeper. In fact, Euro could hear her train wreck like snores emerging from the girl's dorm right at that moment. He wondered how Faye could sleep at night, then remembered the ear plugs she had shown him just the day before.

Smart.

Euro smiled faintly and closed his eyes, just for a while. _Same no Ha _hummed again, calling out to its master.

* * *

><p>Kyuuga set the last plate down on the tray, before wiping his hands on a wet cloth. He took the toothpick from his lips, flicking it out carelessly and grabbing the tray with both hands firmly. He used his back to swing open the door, watching in amusement as three heads simultaneously turned to him, eyes alight.<p>

"Breakfast?" Jackie asked eagerly, eyes flickering to the fluffy scrambled eggs and mushrooms.

"I love mushrooms," Faye sighed happily, taking the plates from the cook. "Thanks, Kyuuga."

"Thanks, Kyuuga!" Euro and Jackie chorused.

Kyuuga merely nodded in reply and stored Faye's comment away for later reference as the plates were passed around, and the crew settled into a comfortable silence as they ate. Finally, as the last bits of food were scraped off plates, Euro spoke.

"So, Captain, Faye said we should arrive at Marie Island anytime now. What's our plan?"

"To look for a navigator," Jackie said immediately, grinning. "And we need to think of a way to earn more money; I'm almost all out." Sadly, she held up her purse of beli, opening the pouch to reveal a small wad of cash. "This is all I've left from when I first left my island."

Euro propped his chin in the palm of his hand, pursing his lips. "About that, Jackie. I just realised that we don't know much about you." He gestured to Faye and Kyuuga. "Where do you come from, anyway? What about your family?"

Jackie set her plate down. "Oh." She shrugged. "It's pretty simple really. I come from Nola Island. My family consists of only me, my aunt and my grandmother." She paused, recollecting her thoughts. The three across her listened with rapt attention. "My parents died when I was young – my father before I was born and my mother giving birth to me; I don't remember them really, and before you go and say your condolences, don't. As awful as it sounds, I've never met them so I don't really… feel for them, you know?"

There was silence, Jackie raising an eyebrow as if daring them to contradict her. When there were no protests, she continued. "My Aunt Coral is a marine. A captain in the Grand Line, to be precise."

"What?" Faye asked incredulously, "Your aunt is a marine? And you're a pirate?"

"Yeah, I don't really remember her much. She rarely visited." Jackie replied nonchalantly, "Oh, and my grandmother wasn't home much either."

"Why not?" Kyuuga asked, gathering the plates and submerging them in the filled sink.

"I don't really know," Jackie shrugged, "Now that I think about it, she was an old bat, so I don't see where she could go, but every Monday she'd leave the island, and every Saturday she'd come back, spend Sunday at the village, then leave again."

"Weird." Euro muttered.

Jackie nodded in agreement. "It is. Before I left to become a pirate, she told me she wouldn't be coming back to the island once I left, so I better not chicken out and come scurrying to her with my tail between my legs, because she wouldn't be there anymore." She laughed. "Grandma's a spunky old bat."

Faye smiled, standing with her binoculars to check the area for any indication of land. Euro lounged against the railing, and Jackie frowned when Kyuuga informed her that it was her turn to do the dishes, but complied, albeit reluctantly.

Kyuuga leaned against the door to the kitchen, watching as Jackie dried a plate. "Who took care of you, then?" he asked suddenly.

Jackie turned to him, furrowing her brows before her eyes cleared. "Oh, you mean since my grandma wasn't around much? The Unazuma's took care of me…" she drifted off, her movements slowing. She blinked, shaking her head. "Sorry. Ah, yeah, they were this nice couple, parents to…"

"Eric?" Kyuuga took a wild guess. He could see that it was hard for Jackie to talk about the Unazuma family, but he was curious.

Jackie turned to him, startled. "How did you –"

"Land ho!" Faye's voice drifted towards the two, causing Jackie to jump a little. "I see Marie Island, guys!"

Kyuuga smirked wryly. Perfect timing. "I heard you mention him once," he told his captain vaguely.

Jackie nodded quickly. "Right, um, yeah. Let's go then. Uh, hoppity-hop," she was clearly attempting to change the subject.

Kyuuga complied with her wish, sighing a little inside. "Right." He echoed.

He wasn't going to let it go, however.

* * *

><p>"Rare items from all over the world! Never before seen gems!" Kitsumei Jane called, cupping her mouth with both hands. Hands on her hips, she leaned closer to the edge of her boat and called out again. "Kairoseki! Weaponry! You name it, we got it!"<p>

"Kairoseki?" A smooth male's voice reached her ears and Jane turned, startled as she hadn't heard him coming. Her newest potential customer looked to be in his early twenties with black hair and eyes, tinted glasses low on the bridge of his nose. His attire was one that a chef would wear, only without the hat, and with black trousers instead of white.

"Um, yes sir, Kairoseki," Jane agreed after a second of analysing the man. "Rumoured to weaken those who have eaten the Fruit of the Devil, you know."

"Is that so?" the man murmured, pushing his glasses up with the back of his hand. "May I…?"

"Of course," Jane replied enthusiastically, "Just one moment, sir." She hastened to the back of the boat, into the only room there. A bed was pushed up against the far wall, and all around it were items of all kinds. She tiptoed around a few rolls of silk and snatched a pair of Kairoseki cuffs from a pile of them.

Ducking out from under the piece of cloth hanging as a makeshift door, Jane looked towards her customer to see that three others had joined the first. There were two girls, one with pink hair and brown eyes, the other with black hair and – weirdly enough – violet eyes, and one extra boy, with blue hair and eyes.

She put on her best business smile. "Good afternoon!" she chirped, "My name is Kitsumei Jane, is there anything in particular I can help you with?"

"I'm Jackie," the black-haired one replied, smiling unreservedly at Jane. "And no thank you, we were just here because our crewmate is." She pointed to the Chef Guy, before addressing him. "Why are you here anyway, Kyuuga?"

"This girl claims to have Kairoseki in her possession." Kyuuga replied, eyes honing in on the cuffs in Jane's hand. He raised an eyebrow. "Are those really what you say they are?"

"Kairoseki?" Jackie echoed, before grinning. "That is so cool! What other stuff do you sell?"

Jane blinked, unsure of whether to answer the man or enthusiastic girl first. "Yes, these are Kairoseki, only not as strong as the ones marines use. I got these poor replicas cheap, but they still work." Why was she telling him all this? She wanted to make a sale, not ward him off! But then again, Jane made it a rule never to lie. Lying just led karma her way. "And we sell special silks, gems, anything really. It's like a flea market here, only on a boat."

"Gems, you say?" the pink-haired one cut in, looking interested. Rolling his eyes, as if quite used to his crewmate's antics, the blue-eyed male tugged the first back a little.

"Come on Faye; let's just get something to eat."

Faye pouted a little. "But I don't even have enough possessions to call mine, Euro!" she complained feebly, "I had to drop everything and run for you guys, so I should at least be able to fill a measly chest with stuff."

"Useless stuff," Euro responded with a smirk, unfazed, "You can fill your chest with ramen, Faye. Come on," he repeated. This time, the young woman followed, grumbling a little.

"We'll catch you guys later, alright?" Faye called back to Jackie and Kyuuga, who nodded.

"Yeah," Kyuuga replied for them both, eyes still fixed on the Kairoseki cuffs in interest.

Jane turned her gaze back to the duo as the rest of their crew – what a small crew – left, holding up the cuffs to Kyuuga. "You better not run with them," she warned, "or I _will_ kick your ass."

Jackie laughed and Kyuuga smirked at the comment, but made no move to retrieve the cuffs, instead shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Jackie reached over to grab them instead. "Sure thing!" she agreed, looking the hunk of metal over. She glanced at Jane. "Kyuuga can't hold the cuffs, because he ate a Fruit," she explained.

Jane nodded, masking her surprise well, though he probably caught the look, if the tensing of his shoulders was of any proof. He seemed to be waiting for something. "That's cool," she shrugged, playing the indifferent façade. It was really none of her business, and Kyuuga probably didn't want to talk about it. She saw the surprise flicker in his eyes, before he pushed his glasses up higher, obscuring the black orbs in an instant.

Weird.

"These look cool, Kyuuga," Jackie said excitedly, her eyes glittering as she regarded her crewmate with a large grin. Kyuuga's lips twitched back.

"We should buy a pair," he suggested, "It could come in handy one day."

"That's true," Jackie agreed, "But… we don't have the money." She looked at the cuffs in her hand mournfully, and sighed. "That's too bad, I really wanted these too…"

"Take them," Jane blurted in a bout of spontaneity. All three of them blinked as soon as the words exited her mouth. Why had she said that? Jane chastised herself inwardly. She didn't know what had made her say what she did; for some reason, she'd just _wanted_ them to have it.

"Really?" Jackie asked after a long moment, eyes wide. "You'd really give these to us for free?"

"Sure, why not," Jane shrugged, wondering where the words she was currently spewing were coming from. It was almost as if it had a mind of its own. Oh, well. It was too late to take back, anyhow. "I have tons more; one isn't going to be missed. Just take it."

She felt Kyuuga studying her intently through his glasses, but she stubbornly kept her eyes on Jackie's. The violet-eyed girl jumped into her arms all of a sudden, wrapping herself around Jane's torso and squeezing – hard.

She tried to say something, but really couldn't for the life of her. Then, the pressure alleviated and she opened her eyes to see Kyuuga holding Jackie back effortlessly, while the violet-eyed young woman struggled against his hold, mostly for show.

"Sorry about my captain, she's a little… well, she can get a little mood swing-y at times. Next thing you know, she'll be yelling her head off." Kyuuga explained shortly.

Jane barely processed the words, her mind lingering towards the beginning of his sentence. "Wait – Jackie's your _captain_?" try as she might, she couldn't keep the incredulity from her tone. She was pretty sure her eyes were even bugging out of her head.

Jackie didn't seem to mind, however, and merely chuckled. Kyuuga nodded, looking a little amused himself. "Don't worry; you're not the only one to think that."

"I don't look the part, I know," Jackie agreed, not seeming the least offended.

"Ah…" Jane was at a loss for words, and shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "So, was there anything else you wanted to look at?"

Jackie seemed to contemplate this for a moment, before shaking her head. "Nah, we're good. Thanks again for the Kairoseki cuffs, Jane, you're really awesome!"

Jane smiled a little. "It's not a problem."

Kyuuga nodded to her in silent thanks, and then, they were gone, swept away into the crowd. Jane let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding, staring after the spot she'd last seen them before they'd disappeared.

They were certainly a weird bunch.

* * *

><p>"That was so nice of her, hey Kyuuga?" Jackie asked her cook happily, tinkering with the cuffs absentmindedly as they strolled through the shopping and restaurant area. Knowing Euro and Faye, it was where they were most likely to be.<p>

Kyuuga nodded, thinking back to the girl – Kitsumei Jane, her name was. She looked pretty young, maybe eighteen years of age, with a pale green pixie cut and black eyes. What puzzled him was how she so willingly gave up her merchandise to them – people she had just met.

Call him crazy for being a little weary.

"Oh, I see them!" Jackie called out suddenly, peering through a café window. Kyuuga looked himself, catching sight of his crewmates seated in the far corner, sipping refreshments lazily.

They entered the store, feeling a cool breeze hit them. Faye caught Jackie's eye and waved them over, both she and Euro scooting to the side to allow them a little room.

"So you ended up buying it after all, hey Kyuuga?" Euro commented, upon seeing the Kairoseki metal in Jackie's hands.

Jackie shook her head cheerfully, answering for her cook. "Nope! Jane gave it to us for free – can you believe it?"

Faye and Euro exchanged a suspicious glance, before turning to him. He returned the look – at least they were a little apprehensive as well.

He shrugged in turn to their questioning looks. "She seemed nice enough and not much of a threat," he assured the two as Jackie flagged down a waiter. Euro and Faye nodded, relieved at the word of Kyuuga.

If Kyuuga said things were fine, then, well, things must be fine.

* * *

><p>They were stealthy – sort of. Dressed head to toe in black clothing, the two figures slinked shadow to shadow, as quietly as they could.<p>

Earlier, they had seen the girl – Jane, her name was – selling all sorts of interesting items. If sold correctly, they could be work quite a bit in the black market.

Slipping onto the boat, they ducked under the cloth hovering over top the door and carefully maneuvered their way through the tight fitting room, wary eyes kept on the sleeping figure near the back – Jane.

Ever so slowly, they began the painstaking routine of hauling each and every valuable item off the boat and to their partners in crime.

The girl would never know what'd hit her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Heehee. So, hi guys. Hope you liked this chappie; hope you liked Jane, as well. Because I sure like her. Heehee. Anyway, I'm kind of exited because my birthday is coming up this Monday – I'm gonna be 15, yay! Did you all think I was older, or younger? How old are you guys anyway? Heehee. Kbye, see you sooooon.

- Posted on Friday, March 30th, 2012.


	14. Part Two: Rightfully Hers

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen: Rightfully Hers<strong>

She'd been robbed. It was the very first thing Jane had registered when she first woke up the next morning.

Everything she owned… gone.

It was devastating. Jane really didn't know how to feel. Her heart ached dully as her eyes swept over the complete emptiness of her room. It didn't seem so cramped anymore, with only a bed and a dresser pushed up against the far wall. The only thing of value left was the lone picture frame of Jane when she was a little younger, posing with her father – and that was of sentimental value, and although extremely precious to her, wouldn't put food on her table.

It was sad to think she had nothing to her name – no merchandise to help her along the road of life any longer. Her father had worked hard to build up a good foundation for Jane to take over when he passed away – and all his hard word, his dedication, was gone in the blink of an eye.

Jane shivered and pulled the blanket around her shoulders tighter around her body. Even the thought that some scum had been creeping around her room while she slept was scary enough. Knowing she had nothing to support her – they had even found and taken her emergency money – chilled her to the bone. What could she do now? She had no friends, no family, and no allies to help her. She and her father had been very secretive people, and since he had long since passed, she was all alone.

_Keep your head high, Jane, and stay strong._

Those were the words her father had said to her before going off to join the Marine Corps. It was simple, really. In the village she came from, each male had to join the marines for one year the day they turned twenty. Her mother had fled her father as soon as she gave birth to Jane, and her dad had no one to take care of her while he went to serve the marines. So, he had left, building a new life with only a few valuables to his name and a measly dinghy.

But eventually, the marines tracked him down. Since Jane had been old enough to man the shop by herself for one year, her father complied easily. Before he had left, he'd said those words to Jane. A few months later, letter came by News Coo that her father had died nobly in battle against the Virgule Pirates. The pirates, it had been noted, had gotten away.

They told her he'd died for a good cause. She scoffed derisively at the thought.

Straightening, Jane allowed the blanket to pool around her waist as a new light entered her eyes at the thought of her deceased father. He was a great man, and if he were still alive, Jane was sure Kitsumei Dalton wouldn't have let _anyone_ take away his hard work. With that thought in mind, Jane reached under her bed and pulled out her weapon, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

The said weapon was a bisento, and her father had once told her the well-known Whitebeard had used a weapon similar to hers before he had died. The sword of sorts was a sharp, slightly curved blade held by a long, slim stick, plain brown in colour. Jane's bisento was ridiculously small in comparison to the former pirate's, but it was durable and had served her well the past years in her line of work.

Jane smiled as her fingers traced lightly over the initials of her father, who had made it, carved into the base of the weapon. Closing her eyes briefly, she made a quick promise to her father in the silence.

She would try her hardest to get every last bit of her treasure back. Even if she did not succeed, she would still try. If only to save her pride.

* * *

><p>Just as Jane emerged from her room, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun, she heard her name being called out from a while away. She turned in the direction, spotting the group from the day before. Were they… calling for her?<p>

"Oh! Jane!" Jackie reached her first and placed her hands on her thighs to catch her breath. The rest of her crew followed at a leisurely pace, unlike their energetic captain. "I've been looking for you! I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and my crew and – hey, is that a bisento? Cool!"

Feeling self-conscious, Jane slowly lowered her bisento and attempted to hide it behind her back, but the damage was already done, and Jackie's eyes were riveted on the weapon. The rest of her crew had caught up by now, but unlike their captain, their gazes were a tad suspicious. She couldn't blame them, of course – she was holding something dangerous and with them being pirates, she supposed that was reason enough to be cautious. She would be too.

"Um, sorry, Jackie, but I can't really hang around today." Jane answered hesitantly, and she saw Euro and Faye's tensed shoulders relax slightly. They didn't trust her, and for some reason, that made her face burn in shame even though she didn't have evil intentions.

Kyuuga's eyes flickered over to Jane's merchant boat, and he tilted his head lightly in confusion. "Jane," he started slowly, "did you sell all your merchandise?" by the tone of his voice it was obvious that he didn't believe it himself. There was an underlying question behind his words: _what are you hiding?_

Caught, Jane licked her lips nervously, wracking her brain for a quick excuse. She came up with none, and shook her head gently. "It's nothing for you to worry yourself about," she replied softly, tightening her grip on the bisento. "If you'll excuse me, I really have to leave. There is some… business I have to take care of."

With that, she quickly scurried away.

Kyuuga turned to Jackie after a while and saw that she was staring at Jane's retreating back, looking to be thinking. Finally, she said, "She's hiding something," she pointed out the obvious, "Let's follow her."

As grudging as Faye and Euro were to admit it, their captain was right, and after the random act of kindness Jane had shown the day before with the whole free Kairoseki episode, they were hard pressed to disagree with Jackie's impulsive command. In retrospect, they should have seen it coming.

"You realise that 'following her', especially without Kitsumei noticing, means to keep quiet, right? Can you even go so long without talking?" Euro teased.

Jackie was indignant. "I can too!" she insisted, crossing her arms under her chest, "In fact, I bet you I can make it thirty whole minutes without drawing Jane's attention to us!"

"Alright, let's shake on it." Euro held up a hand, but just as Jackie was going to extend her own, Faye and Kyuuga exchanged a glance and each took hold of Jackie by her elbows, dragging her away effortlessly.

"W-Wha – hey!" Euro protested, retracting his hand with a small frown. They kept on walking away, showing no indication that they had heard their blue-haired comrade in the first place. "Wait for me!"

Euro caught up with the trio, and they walked on in silence, Jackie having been put down to walk on her own a short while ago. She hummed to herself as she walked, having seemingly forgotten all about the almost-bet that Euro had proposed just a minute previous. Finally, she turned to face her crew, stopping them in the middle of the shopping area. Annoyed customers shot them glances as they passed by.

"I think Kyuuga should follow her." Jackie started, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Because let's face it: Euro, you'd get bored of her too easily, and I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut. And Faye…"

"She would trip and get caught by Jane within seconds." Euro snickered, ignoring Faye's indignant glare.

"Hey!" she protested, taking a step forward, "I would _not_ – ah!" proving her crewmate's point, she tripped over a loose pebble. Thankfully, Euro's quick reflexes caught her around her waist and she fell into his arms, hands splayed half hazardously across his chest.

"Sorry." Faye muttered, carefully untangling herself from Euro's arms. A light blush dusted her cheeks.

Euro was oddly quiet. "Whatever." He stepped back and shoved the hand not holding on to _Same no Ha _deep into his pants pocket. He cleared his throat a second later. "Well, Kyuuga, it's up to you, then." He said, turning to fully face the cook of the crew.

Kyuuga had an eyebrow raised, but nodded without complaint. "Alright. I'll find out where she's headed and come back to the boat in an hour."

Jackie clapped her hands, enthused. "Sounds great! Best of luck, Kyuuga. Let's go, guys," she added, turning on her heel eagerly, looking out for a restaurant nearby.

The three crewmates exchanged looks, before hiding smirks. Kyuuga held up a hand in silent farewell, before shoving his hands in his pockets and darting off into an alley. Faye and Euro watched as Kyuuga put his Devil Fruit power to the test for the first time as he summoned energy to the balls of his feet, propelling himself upwards. He landed on the tops of a building nonchalantly. Once he spotted Jane, he was off, jumping from building to building without gaining much attention from the people shopping below.

Euro raked a hand through his hair and nudged for Faye to follow him to Jackie, who hadn't bothered to wait for her crew and was instead peering through a restaurant window, her nose smashed up against the glass. "Let's go in here," she suggested excitedly, and without waiting for her crewmates' consent, quickly entered the dodgy looking place.

Euro and Faye exchanged looks and sighed, though they shook their heads fondly. Entering the restaurant together, they took a quick assessment of the place, noting that there were a fair share of people inside, and it was pretty rowdy. Most of the customers had shifty eyes, and it seemed that this was not a place for tourists or locals.

Good thing they were pirates, then.

"Over here, guys!" Jackie beckoned them both to a booth she had managed to snag, patting the seat beside her. Faye slid in and Euro took the seat across from them. A waitress appeared a moment later, looking impatient, and they ordered quickly.

After that, there was nothing to say for a while. The three leaned back in their seats and relaxed, even Jackie. Her boundless energy was slowly dwindling away, but nothing a good meal couldn't fix.

As they sat back and basked in the silence at their table, a voice drifted over to them from the bar just a few paces away. "…Yeah, I got her stuff."

"And she didn't see your faces or anything?" another voice asked.

A third voice chimed in, "Don't worry, she was sleeping the whole time. All we did was sneak in her boat, grab all her stuff, and bolt."

"That Jane girl didn't know what hit 'er. All her merchandise – gone in one night." The first sneered, before laughing. The other two eventually joined in, before they ordered a couple more beers and their conversation moved onto something else.

Jackie, Euro and Faye's eyes were hard at the end of their spiel, and their lips were pursed. One glance at each other, and they nodded. Euro got up first, relaxing his stance and trying to act nonchalant. He walked up to the three men at the bar. "Hey," He addressed.

"What do you want?" One grunted, draining the last of his beer. He eyed _Same no Ha_ warily. "Scram, kid, we don't have anything to give you."

"Oh, I don't want anything," Euro assured, "I was actually going to give _you_ something. I'm moving islands, you see, and I want to give away all my furniture and stuff. It's all in the back alley. Maybe you guys can come and see what you'd like to take away?"

The three guys exchanged looks for a moment before the first nodded, breaking out into a toothy grin. "Sure thing, kid. The alley, right?"

Euro nodded casually, leading the three out of the restaurant. Faye and Jackie waited a moment, before sliding out of the booth, Jackie leaving a few crumpled up beli as payment for their yet-to-arrive food. They followed Euro and the three men at a distance.

"I can't believe Jane didn't tell us," Jackie murmured.

Faye shrugged. "Well, we didn't really know her all that well. Besides, she has pride. She probably didn't want to admit to it because she knew that we'd help her, and she doesn't want to bring practical strangers into this."

Jackie didn't have a clever reply for that. "Well, still," she grumbled.

"Here we go." The two heard Euro's pleasant voice just around the corner, in the alley where he'd led the three men to.

"What the hell, kid? There's nothing here!"

"Oh, there isn't? No, I think you misheard me. When I said I had something to give you, I meant this."

Jackie and Faye appeared in view just as Euro brandished _Same no Ha _with both hands, slashing one man across the chest. The other two let out startled yelps when their companion went down, before anger flashed on their faces. They got out two pistols and pointed them at Euro.

_Woosh. _Faye had already sent an arrow flying, and it hit one man in the calf. He went down with a cry of pain. Jackie had swept forward and in a flash, her _Kazekaki _were out and one was already slashing in an arc for the second man. He was down and groaning in a second.

Euro relaxed, the spikes in his weapon retreating as it made contact with his shoulder. He used his free hand to haul one man up by the collar roughly. All three were still alive, as it hadn't been the pirate's intentions, though they were bleeding pretty badly.

"Now, what's this about Jane?" Euro growled.

* * *

><p><strong>Authour's Note<strong>

So sorry about the extremely long wait, and the boring chapter to boot! I'm not going to make excuses for myself, because even though my laptop caught a virus it was fixed a long time ago, and if any of you have stopped reading, I understand fully. Now that it's summer, I'll be able to crank out chapters more often. On another note, I'm trying to experiment with a bit of romance. Just a bit, mind you, and at a snail's pace. But just putting that out there.

- Posted on Monday, July 9th, 2012


	15. Part Three: Comeuppance

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

**By the waaaaay, important authour's note at the end of this chapter. No, I'm not putting this story on hiatus or anything drastic like that :P**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: Comeuppance<strong>

Jane was lost, utterly and hopelessly. She had no lead to take her closer to finding her merchandise, her treasure. All she'd been doing for the past half hour or so was snoop around the newspapers, eavesdrop on some conversations, and interrogate a few shifty looking blokes who'd told her to scram right after.

At the moment, she was slumped over on the nearest bench, sweat trickling down her forehead and back. This feeling suddenly crept up to her, like she was being watched. She had felt it the whole time she'd been searching, but had initially brushed it off.

Her eyes still closed, she took a chance and in the risk of possibly talking to herself, blurted, "Why are you following me?"

The was a long pause, and just when Jane was about the open her eyes, expecting to see a bunch of people looking at her weirdly for talking to thin air, a deep voice spoke.

"Captain's orders, I'm afraid."

Jane's eyes flung open, and she found herself staring at a bush. She averted to gaze in the direction the voice had come from, and was a little startled to see Kyuuga with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, sleeves folded to his elbows like usual.

"Hello Jane."

Jane licked her lips, her mouth dry from surprise. "Hello. What are you doing here–"

"Following you?" Kyuuga finished. Jane nodded. "Well, Jackie was curious as to where you were going." He shrugged. "I myself didn't really believe your excuse, so in the end it was decided that I follow you around a bit."

Jane didn't really know what to say. "Um…"

Kyuuga looked around casually. "So you find what you're looking for yet?"

Jane didn't bother asking how he knew she was looking for something, or rather, someone. He was an observant one. "Nope." Jane shrugged. She refrained from elaborating any further, not wanting to accidentally blurt out her secrets for Kyuuga to know. Going over her words before she spoke, she asked hesitantly, "What are you here for exactly?"

Kyuuga shrugged, dropping all pretenses. "To see what was wrong," he fixed her with a piercing stare. "To help."

Jane licked her chapped lips, but didn't say anything. Kyuuga continued, more confident now. "Let us help you, Jane. I'll take you to Jackie and the others. Knowing them, they've either gone insane from the suspense, are eating their hearts out, or have found something that might just help you. You never know." His eyes goaded her to accept his request, extending a hand, but Jane was still wary.

Why were they helping her, first and foremost? Was it because she'd done a good deed for their captain, and now karma was coming back around to help her out? She could understand that, at the very least. But did she want them figuring out what had gotten her into such a frenzy? She had her pride. She had dignity. But her father's sacrifice which resided in all the stolen merchandise was more important, that much she knew.

Maybe, though, they weren't helping her out of pity, Jane realised with dawning clarity. Maybe they actually, genuinely wanted to help.

Swallowing her nervousness, she reached up and took hold of Kyuuga's outstretched fingers.

* * *

><p>The trio walked in a precise line. Faye on the left, Jackie in the middle, and Euro as her right hand man. They walked casually, their weapons lowered in a non-threatening position so as to not alarm the villagers. The three men they'd just squeezed information from were groaning in pain, but no one came to help them, instead clearing a wide arc and ducking their heads to avoid eye contact.<p>

Even though they weren't a group anyone had heard about, it was clear that the two females and single male were pirates of the sea. It was best not to trifle with them.

Despite the villagers sudden wariness of them, Jackie was as light hearted as ever. "Alright," she sighed happily, "Let's find Kyuuga, Jane, and get to the harbour. The boat with her stolen stuff won't leave until six at night, anyway. There is absolutely no rush."

"Then why are you running, Captain?" Euro drawled amusedly, looking pointedly at Jackie's faster pace. "Slow down. Seriously."

Jackie frowned, falling back into step with her crewmates grudgingly. "Right. Slow down." She frowned at the word 'slow,' as if it wasn't a word in her vocabulary.

Faye spoke up then, hiding a smile. "No need to rush, Jackie. They've found us."

And they had. The trio looked up to see Kyuuga and Jane walking towards them, having already spotted them. Kyuuga was a touch ahead of Jane, who was fiddling with her bisento absently. Kyuuga seemed to be murmuring something or other to her, and her lips were quirked in amusement. "Captain," Kyuuga addressed once they met each other halfway. Jackie was bouncing on the balls of her feet, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey Jane! I assume you're here to team up with us, yeah?"

"Only if you're willing," Jane replied slowly, weighing her words before she spoke, "I certainly will pay you back for your kindness, but won't force you in any way."

"Of course I want to!" Jackie exclaimed, carefully skirting over the discussion of payment. She didn't intend on taking anything of Jane's after this was all over, aside from maybe her allegiance, but if she told Jane so now she was certain her proposition would be turned down. So, she kept her mouth shut and nodded, moving forward to walk with Jane as her three crewmates took up the rear nonchalantly. "So here's the thing: we've already figured out why you need us and where your merchandise is being held. We overheard a bunch of goons talking about it, and took the information from them."

She filled Jane in on how a cargo ship would be arriving at exactly six that night, and how there was a warehouse filled with stolen goods, not just Jane's. It was a win-win situation anyhow, Jackie assured, as there was gold hidden in the warehouse and as pirates, treasure was right up their alley. It helped spur her on with the fact that they were nearly broke, having spent almost all of Jackie's starting out money.

"We haven't actually committed any crimes yet," Jackie admitted sheepishly, before waving her hand casually, "But that doesn't matter! We'll get our gold and your merch tonight. It'll be easy, actually. There aren't many people guarding the warehouse in the first place since it's such a secret place, and even then, they're only a bunch of thugs."

Jane was silent the whole way through, before expressing her thanks once more. "I know this benefits you guys as well, but still, thanks. Really. The merch is my only means of income, and if it weren't for you all..."

Jackie couldn't hold back anymore, and burst forth with a rushed, "Well actually, I was kinda hoping you'd consider joining my crew once all this is over." She crossed her fingers in front of her, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please say yes!"

Taken aback, Jane was rendered speechless for a few long moments. She realised that she had stopped in the middle of the road, and picked up her pace again, sending a quick look to Kyuuga, whom she supposed she was most acquainted with. He sent her a look that said he was a tad surprised, but had known his captain would eventually set the inquiry. Faye and Euro had the same look in their eyes, and they sent easygoing grins Jane's way to ease her doubts.

"I'll... think about it." Jane said cautiously, relaxing a bit at the beam Jackie sent her at her words.

"Wonderful," Jackie sighed.

The mischievous captain regarded everyone around her with a devilish grin. "Well then, let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

><p><strong>Authour's Note<strong>

Wow. I hadn't realised how much time had past. I thought it had only been a week and a half since my last update. Anyway, the important announcement. I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow, which is why I cranked out this chapter today. I'll be gone for three weeks, so an update won't come until I get back. Sorry; even though I do have a commitment to you guys with this story, I haven't been to my home country, Singapore, in years. I'm looking forward to my trip without distractions.

So until I get back, see ya'll!

Oh yeah. Sorry this is so short. The action will come next chapter! I can only hope you guys stick with me on this journey :)

- Posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2012


	16. Part Four: Game Time

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen: Game Time<strong>

With the combined efforts of Jackie's crew and Jane, it wasn't all that hard to discover where Jane's merchandise had gone. Euro, Jackie and Faye had squeezed all information out of the ruffians back at the restaurant, and were told that Jane's stuff was set to be shipped on a cargo ship that midnight at warehouse 104. Jane and Kyuuga questioned a couple passers-by for extra information.

Marie Island had a whole row of warehouses at the far West corner of the island, as Jane and Kyuuga had found out. The warehouses were abandoned, and had been since long ago. Gangs and small businesses took up a couple warehouses on the right side, but the left, right at the edge of the island, were warehouses rusty and out of use – or so everyone thought.

"Alright," Jackie was serious for once, though her stance was nonchalant and there was the usual bounce to her step. She assessed Jane, who was at her left. The rest of her crew trailed behind, conversing between themselves, though Kyuuga only added in his input every so often. Once Jackie spoke, however, they trailed off and regarded their captain, waiting for her to continue speaking.

"Alright," Jackie repeated, "I think it's best if we scope out the warehouses before we take any action. If we take the merchandise then, so many things can go wrong. We'll wait until midnight, when the village is asleep. The cargo ship will come, and we'll take them out, too."

Faye grinned, "The cargo ship will probably have other valuables from other islands, too. More treasure for us!"

Euro shook his head, though he was smiling. "Well, we _are_ pirates."

"So it's true. You guys really are pirates," Jane marveled, as the group headed towards the warehouses.

"As real as can be, Miss Kitsumei," Kyuuga drawled, his lips quirking up into the tiniest of smirks.

Jane had nothing to say to that.

* * *

><p>Warehouse 104 looked just like any other unsuspecting rundown building. Its paint job was cracked in places, and the roof wasn't much better. Nothing about it indicated boundless treasure in its depths. Nothing about it would bring someone to check the place out.<p>

Unless you were Jackie, of course.

The captain with the plain white cap was bouncing in excitement, ready to bolt out of the trees around her and into the clearing. Kyuuga, however, ever the sensible one, held out a hand suddenly. Jackie stopped at the more serious than usual look on his face. _What?_, her eyes asked.

In response, Kyuuga motioned for her, Jane, Euro and Faye to listen. They did as told, but heard nothing aside from the occasional whistle of the wind. Just as Jackie opened her mouth to relay this, though, the sound of footsteps came and went, somewhere to their left.

Jackie stilled.

The group started to converse in silence, using hand gestures and their eyes. Even the dimmest of the dim could understand: someone was near. Jackie finally rested her gaze on Kyuuga, and nodded her head. He would be the one to check it out. He was, after all, the quietest of the bunch. Euro's weapon would draw attention, Faye would trip over herself if she tried to be sneaky, and Jane's capabilities were unknown as of yet. Jackie knew she carried with her a bisento, as she could see it in Jane's hands, the girl's grip on the weapon all too tight, but Jackie didn't know how skilled Jane was with the bisento and wasn't about to take a chance.

Kyuuga inclined his head at Jackie's nod. He would have to aim for the back of the person who'd made the noise, and pull a surprise attack on him or her. Even then, there could be more than one person to take out, and what's more, multiple guards could be circling around the perimeter of the warehouse.

If he wasn't careful, or a guard alerted the others, they were toast.

Kyuuga bent his knees just a bit, ready to go. Then, he bolted smoothly past the trees and shrubbery, the tall grass and pointy rocks. The only noise he made was a slight rustle from streaking past so fast, but it could easily be mistaken for the breeze.

Jackie grinned as she watched Kyuuga go. She definitely chose the best mates for her crew. Her nakama were unmatched in her eyes, and even if Kyuuga didn't execute his task perfectly, that was okay.

The group waiting in silent anticipation for any sign of danger. Suddenly, a shout rang across the clearing, and Jackie cursed under her breath. Someone had raised the alarm.

Jackie raised her voice. "Go! Let's go!"

* * *

><p>There was no telling how many enemies there were. They must have been lying in wait ever since Euro, Jackie and Faye had beaten the three goons back at the restaurant. After all, they'd left them alive, and it was possible that they could've contacted their boss soon after.<p>

They all split up. Euro and Faye went right, their weapons already out and tensed in anticipation. Jackie bolted left, in search of Kyuuga, and Jane quickly followed. They shoved through the branches and bushes, following the sound of agony. Cries filled the air, and Jackie contented herself with the knowledge that none of those shouts belonged to her crew.

A step, and Kyuuga came into view, along with eight other ruffians with cutlasses and pistols alike. Jackie shot into action. Her _Kazekaki _out and glinting under the sun, she knocked the closest enemy out with her elbow and slashed another in the stomach.

Kyuuga was holding his own rather well, one hand in his pocket and the other smashing his forearm into the advancing enemies' faces. The blow from his Devil Fruit power transferred from his arm and swept his opponents off their feet, faces caving in from the powerful attacks. They were sent a clear dozen feet away, unconscious.

Jackie paused after taking another one down, glancing to her left to see how Jane was doing. She was having some difficulty but could hold her own quite well, her bisento slicing through the air in clean-cut strokes.

A dirty man with a hooked nose sneered and raised his gun, aiming at Jane's skull. Jackie tensed to shoot forward, but Kyuuga beat her to the punch, sweeping forward and flicking his fingers in the man's direction. A blade of air, of _power_, shot from his hand, hitting the enemy and slicing a gash on his face, over his left eye.

The man cried out and dropped his weapon, just as Jane took out the last ruffian, before turning to Kyuuga, shock written over her pale features. She knew how close she'd been to death, and Kyuuga had just saved her.

Jane cleared her throat, the sounds of fighting still raging on somewhere to their right. Euro and Faye. "Thank you," she said softly, not trusting her voice to go any louder as it already wavered.

Kyuuga merely nodded, his face also pale from using up so much energy. He looked her up and down for any injuries. She was ruffled in places and there was a nick on her arm, but she was otherwise unharmed. He turned to his captain, who was cleaning her weapons on her clothes, wiping all traces of the previous battle off them. "Alright?" he asked.

Jackie nodded, then jerked her head to the right. A clear sign: _go_.

In response, Kyuuga shot off towards the trees, headed for Euro and Faye.

"We'll go for the warehouse," Jackie told Jane in quick, low tones once Kyuuga disappeared from view. "I'll cover you while you check to see if your merchandise is actually there."

"Okay," Jane said, breathless, before breaking out into a run into the clearing and for the warehouse. She heard Jackie's steady footsteps mirror her own, and the sound was reassuring. She ran harder. After a few heartbeats, people started taking notice of them, especially since they were so exposed as they ran.

The bullets came soon after.

Jane kept her head low, sprinting as fast as her legs would take her. A blur of blue, pink, and black flashed on her right: Euro and the others fighting off more enemies. Jackie suddenly leapt in to her left, using her weapon to change the course of a bullet. Jane, however, had no time to be impressed. They'd reached the warehouse.

Jane burst through the double doors that were rusted and out of use, the hinges creaking loudly at first, but dying down as it swept open. The sight that met her eyes was a good one. She smiled.

Her merchandise was here.

* * *

><p><strong>Authour's Note<strong>

I was halfway finished with this chapter and went to save my progress when my account completely turned its back on me and told me to sign in to access the page. Hence, I lost nearly ALL my progress. ARGHHHHHHH I'M SO MAD. But here's a chapter nonetheless, albeit a short one.

_**In other, important news,**_ fanfiction has always taken a back seat in regards to my writing, because I actually write fiction stories — fanfictions are just for fun. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm giving up on _Kaizoku!_ but **updates won't be as often** as I'm focusing on fiction more, as I'm really serious about that. But hopefully, I won't give up on this. I love Jackie and the rest of the characters too much!

That being said, thanks again for reading and sticking with me, everyone!


	17. Author's Note - Sorry

**I'm putting _Kaizoku _on infinite hiatus. As in, I'm not going to continue writing _Kaizoku_, but I will keep what I have so far up here.**

**I'm sorry to those who read and enjoyed _Kaizoku_, but my fiction works are more important than fanfiction. I'm sorry, specifically to Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin and CrazyWriter4U.**

**Thank you for understanding. I won't be leaving fanfiction, but I won't be posting anything other than the occasional one-shot or drabble.**

**Again, thank you and sorry for the inconvenience. Maybe one day, I'll continue. Who knows?**


End file.
